L. Cockayne. — Notes on New Zealand Floristic Botany. 195 



sheath, which may be of considerable length ; the pure-white (not faintly 

 tinged with yellow), rather denser but thinner tomentum of the under- 

 surface of the leaf ; and the distinctly smaller flower-head and shorter rays. 

 The suggested race having the linear rigid leaves could not be confused 

 with C. coriacea. 



So far as has been observed, C. Monroi in its restricted significance 

 is confined to rock, either limestone or greywacke ; nor does it appear to 

 extend beyond the North-eastern Botanical District.* The vertical distri- 

 bution is from sea-level to 600 m. or probably higher. 



4. Epilobium rubro -marginatum Cockayne sp. nov. 



Herba perennis, pumila, caulibus gracilibus, procumbentibus, plerumque 

 simplicibus, densissime foliosis, ad internodia inferioria radicantibus, basin 

 versus lignosis, pallide viridibus vel apicem versus rubris, obscure bifariam 

 albo-puberulis. Folia parva, brevipetiolata, oblonga, ovato-oblonga vel 

 raro anguste oblonga, cum petiolo circ. 9 mm. longa, 3 mm. lata, sub- 

 disticha, imbricata, glaberrima nisi petioli margine sparsim albo-puberula, 

 subcarnosa, rigida, margine manifeste rubro tincta, remote obscureque 

 dentata, basi vaginata, subtus nervo medio paullo prominente. Capsula 

 erecta, stricta, glaberrima circ. 2'6 mm. longa vel breviora, pedunculis 

 brevissimis. 



South Island: Westland and Canterbury — On consolidated stony 

 debris at from 1,000 m. to 1,500 m. and upwards on mountains in the 

 neighbourhood of Arthur's Pass and the Otira Gorge. L. C. 



The species is to be recognized by its almost unbranched, far-extending, 

 densely leafy, obscurely bifariously pubescent stems, which are strongly 

 woody near the base, and in the oldest woody throughout, and which root 

 only at the nodes of the lower third; the small petiolate, stiff, rather fleshy, 

 obscurely dentate, glabrous except on the margin of the petiole, oblong 

 obtuse leaves which are for the most part distichous in arrangement 

 through being turned towards the light, and their distinct red or purplish- 

 red margin ; the small white flowers with acute lanceolate calyx-segments ; 

 and the very short glabrous capsule with extremely short peduncle, which 

 lengthens very little as the fruit ripens. 



This species belongs to the series of plants included by Cheeseman in 

 his conception of E. confertifolium Hook. f. (Manual, pp. 175-76). But 

 this species was founded by Hooker on Lord Auckland and Campbell 

 Island specimens, which, unlike any of their mainland congeners, have 

 invariably bright-pink flowers. An examination of the subantarctic plafit 

 in 1903 convinced me that it should be kept distinct from its allies of New 

 Zealand proper. Cheeseman adopted this view in 1909 (Subant. Islands of 

 N.Z., vol. 2, p. 406), and he thus distinguishes E. confertifolium in its restricted 

 sense : " Its distinguishing characters, in the limited sense, in which I now 

 understand it, are the creeping and rooting often densely matted stems, 

 the young branches alone rising from the ground ; the densely crowded 

 pale-green and almost fleshy leaves, which are almost sessile, obovate or 

 obovate-oblong, entire or remotely and obscurely denticulate, the lower 



* This includes the north-eastern portion of the South Island, excepting the wet 

 area in the vicinity of the Marlborough Sounds. It is bounded on the west by a line 

 denoting the average limit reached by the western rainfall, and on the south by the 

 River Waiau, a quite artificial boundary. The area thus defined includes the greater 

 part of Marlborough and the drier portion of Nelson. 



7* 



