Laing. — Botany of the Spenser Mountains. 65 



I append some notes on forms of special interest, and a list of specie* 

 gathered.* 



Floristio Notes. 



1. Gunnera densiflora (?) Hook. f. 



There occurs in the forest of southern beech on the western side of 

 Lake Tennyson and on the margin of the lake a species of Gunnera, which 

 is probably the imperfectly described G. densiflora Hook f.f The plant 

 grows in considerable abundance on a sloping bank at the water's edge. 

 It agrees fairly well in character with the description of G. densiflora. 

 The following is a fuller description : — 



Gunnera sp., with short succulent rhizome, herbaceous, creeping, root- 

 ing at the nodes, with rather stout villous stolons, 7 cm. to 10 cm. long. 

 Leaves clustered at the nodes. Petioles stout, with rather short silky 

 hairs, somewhat flattened, 4 cm. to 6 cm. long. Petioles stout, with rather 

 short silky hairs, somewhat flattened, 4 cm. to 6 cm. long, straight or 

 recurved. Blades cordate, reniform to orbicular, 2 cm. to 3 cm. wide, 

 glabrous or with a few white or brown hairs on the margin and midrib, 

 sharply dentate to dentate-sinuate, auricles bent upwards towards the 

 upper surface of the leaf, though not appressed to it, veins distinct, 

 palmate. Flowers monoecious, in simple spikes, which are usually uni- 

 sexual, but occasionally a few female flowers are found at the base of 

 the male spike. Male spike 4 cm. to 7 cm. long, ascending from the axil 

 of the leaf, the peduncle usually shorter than the fertile portion, and 

 covered with a soft woolly pubescence. Flowers shortly pedicellate, pro- 

 vided with a minute linear acute bract, 2 mm. to 3 mm. long, arising 

 from the base of the pedicel, and 2 minute linear sepals smaller than 

 the bract. Petals 2, linear-spathulate, larger than the bracts, hooded with 

 blackish scarious tips, 3 mm. to 5 mm. long. Stamens 2 or 3, filaments 

 shorter than the anthers, anthers ellipsoid, 2-celled. Female flowers sessile, 

 densely crowded with bract, as in the male, calyx-lobes 2, deltoid, apiculate, 

 petals wanting, fruiting-spike elongating to 3 cm. to 5 cm., and covered with 

 a villous brownish pubescence. Fertile drupes 2 mm. to 3 mm. long, rather 

 sparse, pyriform, sessile or shortly pedicellate, crowned by the persistent 

 calyx-lobes. 



Mr. Cheeseman has drawn my attention to the fact that the plant is 

 perhaps identical with Tasmanian G. cordifolia Hook f. (Benth., Fl. Austral., 

 2491 ; Milligania cordifolia Hook. f. in Ic. Plant., t. 299). This is more 

 fully described by Schindler in his monograph on Gunnera in the Pflan- 

 zenreich. The description in the " Icones Plantarum" is very imperfect, and 

 differs from that given by Schindler in several important poinl s. Schindler, 

 also, has not seen the mature drupes, and his account of them in this key 

 to the species is not consistent with that given in the specific description. 

 Doubtless the identity or otherwise of the two species cannot be determined 

 until a definite description of the fruit of the Tasmanian plant is obtained. 

 If the description of the Tasmanian species in the Pflanzenreich is to be 

 relied on, the , drupe is ovoid and costate. The drupe in my plants is 

 pyriform, rounded, and without costae. My description was drawn up 

 on the spot from fresh specimens, of which there was abundance. 



* My thanks are due to Dr. Cockayne and Messrs. Cheeseman and Petrie for much 

 kind assistance, freely given, in the identification of the species. 

 f Handbook N.Z. Flora, p. 68. 



3— Trans. 



