HoLLOWAY. — Studies in the New Zealand Species of Lycopodium. 255 



L. Drummondii Spring. 



There is only one locality, so far as is known, Avhere this species 

 occurs — viz., the Sphagnum bog at the east end of the small Lake 

 Tongonge, at Kaitaia, North i\.uckland. I desire to thank Messrs. H. 

 'Carse and R. H. Matthews, of that neighbourhood, for kindly conduct- 

 ing me to the spot in January, 1914. In a recent letter the former 

 states that the lake and bog are to be drained, so that probably this 

 species, so rare in New Zealand, will disappear. The main stem of 

 the plant is never more than 6 in. in length, and is generally branched 

 several times. It creeps above ground, but is tightly bound down to 

 the mossy surface by the adventitious roots, one of which is borne at 

 the junction of each branch with the main stem. The cones are borne 

 singly on erect peduncles, and stand from 2 in. to 4 in. in height. In 

 several instances a fertile region was seen to be divided into two lengths 

 by the interposition of a short sterile region, and in other cases the 

 old cone of the previous year was observed to have grown on to form 

 the new one. 



L. laterale R. Br. 



I have studied this species more especially on the clay " gum-land " 

 in boggy localities around Kaitaia and on the Auckland Isthmus. In 

 the latter locality it occurs at the margins of the small bogs which occupy 

 the numerous hollows among the clay hills, growing amongst certain 

 Vyperaceae and Gleichenia dicarpa var. hecistophylla . Around Kaitaia 

 and on the Peri a Gumfields it grows extremely abundantly on the 

 open damp hillsides. The surface soil of these gum-lands consists 

 of a peaty humus, which for the greater part of the year holds 

 much water, but which during the summer months is generally more 

 or less dry. The adult plant consists of an irregular and much- 

 branched colourless rhizome, which ramifies .through the soil in all 

 directions. The shorter branches emerge at the surface to form the 

 erect aerial shoots. These latter, when growing amongst thick scrubby 

 vegetation, are extremely slender, and attain a height of from 2 ft. 

 to 3 ft. On open ground they are short and stout, and often reddish 

 in colour. The cones are short, and are normally lateral and sessile. In 

 some cases, however, individual cones are borne on short leaf-covered 

 peduncles, and they must then be regarded as terminal. Pritzel's 

 description of this species in Engler and Prantl is rather misleading. 

 He there states that the Gernua section comprises forms without a widely 

 creeping main axis, mostly like a little tree. It is to be noted that 

 it is only the aerial branches which are tree-like in the two New Zea- 

 land species L. laterale and L. cernuum. The main body of the plant 

 in L. laterale is subterranean and widely ramifying. 



L. cernuum Linn, 



This species is well known from the writings of Treub and of 

 Jones (13). It grows very abundantly throughout the northern part of 

 the North Island of New Zealand on clay moorlands as described-for the 

 preceding species. It thrives especially in North Auckland amongst 

 scrub vegetation of the Gleichenia-Leptospermum association, individual 

 plants often attaining to a length of 12-15 ft., and the upright branches 

 to a height of 1-4 ft. It is also extremely common on the Volcanic 

 Plateau, in the neighbourhood of hot water and near fumaroles. The 



