312 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. XXXIII. — Some Recent Additions to the New Zealand 



Flora. 



By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 15th October, 1900.] 



Caltha obtusa, n. sp. 



Smaller than G. nova-zealandia, seldom more than 2 in. 

 high. Leaves smaller; blade broader, wide-ovate or almost 

 rounded, coarsely dentate, notched at the apex, 2-lobed at 

 the base ; lobes turned upwards and appressed to the sur- 

 face, toothed. Flowers white, 4 in. diameter; at first sessile 

 amongst the uppermost leaves, but the scape elongates in 

 fruit. Sepals 5, oblong, obtuse or subacute, broadest above 

 the middle. Stamens 10-15. Carpels 5-8, narrow-ovate ; 

 style long, slender. Eipe fruit not seen. 



North Island : Herb. Colenso ! (probably from the Rua- 

 hine Eange, but without locality or collector's name). South 

 Island : Mountains at the head of the Broken River, Can- 

 terbury, 5,000 ft. -6,000 ft., T. F. C; Otago- Mount St. 

 Bathan's and Dunstan Mountains, 5,000 ft. -6, 000 ft., Petrie ! ; 

 Black Peak, 6,000 ft., Buchanan ! 



The white flowers and blunt oblong sepals distinguish this 

 at once from G. nova-zealandia, but in a flowerless state it is 

 easily mistaken for a dwarf form of that plant, although the 

 leaves are always broader and coarsely dentate. The sepals 

 are markedly different from the long, tapering, almost caudate 

 sepals of G. nova-zealandia. I have not been able to com- 

 pare it with the Australian and Tasmanian G. introloba, 

 which is said to have white flowers, but, judging from de- 

 scriptions, it is amply distinct. 



Chiloglottis formicifera, Fitzgerald, Austral. Orchids, i., 3 



(1877). 

 A small delicate herb, 2 in. -3 in. high. Leaves 2, at the 

 base of the stem, sessile, 1^ in. -2 in. long, linear-oblong or 

 oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, thin and membranous ; margins 

 often undulate when fresh. Scape 2 in. -3 in. high, robust, 

 1-flowered, with a single sheathing bract towards the top. 

 Dorsal sepal erect, linear-spathulate ; lateral sepals about the 

 same length, narrow linear-spathulate, acuminate. Petals 

 linear-lanceolate, deflexed by the side of the ovary, rather 

 longer than the sepals. Lip horizontal or ascending, con- 

 tracted at the base into a long and narrow claw, above sud- 

 denly expanded into a short and broad spoon-shaped or 



