390 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. XXXV. — Descriptions of New Native Plants, and Notes. 



By D. Petrie, M.A. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 5th August, 1901.} 



1. Epilobium erectum, sp. nov. 



Stems simple, erect, rigid, terete, stout. 3 ft. -5 ft. high, 

 reddish, glabrescent or sparingly pubescent with rather long 

 curved hairs, marked by ridges decurrent from the edges of 

 the sessile leaves, sparingly leafy, the successive leaves or 

 pairs of leaves barely overlapping or more distant. Leaves 

 contracted at the broadly sessile base, opposite below, alter- 

 nate above, ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, tapering uni- 

 formly to the acute tips, membranous, l^in.-2fin. long; 

 closely, shortly, bluntly, and regularly toothed along the 

 margin, the midrib and nerves prominent ; glabrous or pubes- 

 cent on the midrib, nerves, and edges, gradually diminishing 

 upwards, the lower often bearing undeveloped shoots in their 

 axils. Inflorescence much branched, the lower branches long 

 and leafy, all springing from the axils of leafy bracts. Flowers 

 numerous, clustered, short, nearly sessile, densely and loosely 

 pubescent, opening singly and for a short time only. Calyx 

 deeply divided, the lobes narrow linear - lanceolate, acute, 

 finely pilose. Petals magenta or paler, one-half longer than 

 the calyx (rarely twice as long,), shortly 2-lobed, the lobes 

 obtuse. Pedicels of mature capsules Jin. long or less, cap- 

 sules slightly curved, 2-^in. long, tapering at the apex; like 

 the pedicels, hoary with fine loosely appressed longish pubes- 

 cence. Seeds ovate, flattened on one side; testa papillose. 



Hob. Wet and boggy stations in the lowlands of Auckland 

 Province — Dargaville, Whangarei, St. John's Lake (Auckland), 

 Port Charles, marshes of Lower Waikato, Morrinsville, 

 Pongakawa, Matata; Kaitoke Valley (Wellington) ; and north- 

 western lowlands of Nelson. I have not observed it in 

 Canterbury or Otago. 



The leaves are sometimes gradually narrowed at the base, 

 especially in shaded situations. Where several stems grow 

 up together, as sometimes happens when the main stem is 

 broken off or arrested, the lower leaves often present the same 

 feature. The ridges on the internodes are usually four, but 

 occasionally adjoining pairs coalesce. At Kaitoke, in a small 

 bog surrounded by tall forest, I gathered specimens 6 ft. high 

 and as stout as one's little finger. 



Tiie present species is E. junceum, Solander, var. macro - 

 phijlla, Haussknecht. Mr. Kirk appears not to have known 



