Cockayne. — On Celmisia lindsayi. 347 



writes Petrie. Mr. T. Kirk, however, commenting upon this 

 statement, the next year writes, " The reputed Lake Harris 

 station for this fine plant is very doubtful indeed, the plant 

 being purely littoral." Moreover, in the " Students' Flora " 

 Kirk is still more emphatic, stating, " The reported habitats 

 at Mount Bonpland and Lake Harris are erroneous."* To 

 understand Kirk's attitude in this matter one can merely make 

 certain suggestions. He may have considered Matthews's 

 plant as belonging to another species. But this is hardly pro- 

 bable, since Buchanan's Erigeron bonplandii, the plant of Mar- 

 tin's garden, and supposed to have been collected by the latter 

 on the Humboldt Mountains, is referred by Kirk to C. lindsayi. 

 It seems far more likely that Kirk considered some confusing 

 of localities had taken place, especially as he himself had col- 

 lected on the Lake Harris saddle and in that neighbourhood. 

 Such a mistake with regard to a plant habitat is a most easy error 

 to fall into when one is collecting largely from all parts of a 

 region, and receiving plants in addition from other sources ; 

 and especially easy is it when one is collecting living plants 

 rapidly and not labelling them as collected, but trusting merely 

 to memory. Then, in sorting out, planting, and transplanting, 

 there are additional chances of confusion. Be all this as it may, 

 the above is Kirk's uncontradicted assertion, and until it is 

 proved or disproved there must remain uncertainty as to the 

 very important fact regarding the distribution of C. lindsayi. 



But the receipt of certain botanical material from Mr. Mat- 

 thews, together with two explanatory letters, has enabled me 

 to throw some fresh light on the subject. Mr. Matthews thus 

 writes : " In a day or two I will send you specimens of Celmisia 

 lindsayi^ from Nuggets and Celmisia sp. from Mount Bonpland. 

 . . . The flowers certainly do not differ much, but I will 

 ask your opinion on the foliage, &c, which to me appears entirely 

 distinct. Kirk said, as you know, the Bonpland habitat was 

 erroneous ; and yet I saw acres of it, and brought some home a few 

 months ago." The italics are mine, and that statement entirely 

 removes any suspicion as to " mixing of habitats." There can 

 consequently no longer be a doubt as to the existence of an 

 alpine Celmisia closely allied to or identical with the coastal 

 C. lindsayi. j 



The specimens arrived in due course, two living shoots 

 in excellent condition, labelled respectively " Nuggets " and 

 " Bonpland." The following are some notes I made regarding 

 the specimens : — 



* " Students' Flora," p. 284. 



"j" Nugget Point is the original habitat of C. lindsayi. 



