274 Transactions. 



VII. PORTULACACE.E. 



Claytonia australasica. 



An abundant plant on the shingly slopes of Tongariro and 

 Ruapehu, ascending to the summit of the former mountain ; 

 altitude, 6,500 ft, ; T. F. CX_[ 



Hectorella caespitosa. 



Dr. A. J. Ewart, of Melbourne, has recently contributed to 

 the Journal of the Linnean Society (" Botany," vol. 38, pp. 1-3) 

 a short memoir dealing with the systematic position of Hector- 

 ella. He considers that there is nothing in the characters of 

 the genus to connect it more definitely with the Portulacaceas 

 than with the subfamily Polycarpeos of the Caryophyllacece. Its 

 close general relationship to Lyallia, of Kerguelen's Island, has 

 always been admitted ; but in Lyallia the pair of leaves just 

 below the perianth are considered to be bracts, and in Hectorella 

 sepals. The latter conclusion, according to Dr. Ewart, is an 

 error, both the unequal point of origin of the " sepals " and the 

 starting-point of the vascular bundles which enter them being 

 in favour of treating them as bracts. Dr. Ewart comes to the 

 conclusion that Hectorella ccespitosa and Lyallia Kerguelensis 

 are closely related plants ; and that Hectorella should conse- 

 quently be removed to the family Caryophyllacece, and placed 

 in the neighbourhood of L^yallia and the Andine genus Pycno- 

 phyllum. 



XVII. STACKHOUSIACEiE. 



Stackhousia minima. 



Grassy places near the foot of the saddle between Ngauruhoe 

 and Ruapehu ; altitude, 3,500 ft. ; T. F. C. 



XXII. Leguminosje. 

 Corallospartium crassicaule. 



Kurow Mountains, Otago ; H. J. Matthews. 



Carmichaelia flagelliformis. 



Abundant in the elevated open country surrounding Tonga- 

 riro and Ruapehu, ascending to 4,000 ft, ; also plentiful around 

 Lake Taupo, and descending the valley of the Waikato almost 

 as far as Cambridge, and the Thames Valley to Matamata ; 

 T. F. C. 



XXVI. Droserace^e. 

 Drosera stenopetala. 



Moist places on the slopes of Mount Hector, Tararua Range ; 

 3,500-4,000 ft. ; D. Petrief 



