Cheeseman. — New Species of Flowering-plants. 425 



branches, straight or slightly curved, strict, erect, broad and membranous 

 and sheathing the branch at the base, above rigid and coriaceous and 

 gradually narrowed into a straight acicular apex, channelled above, convex 

 beneath, ^— § in. long. Peduncles terminating the branchlets, stout, shorter 

 than the leaves, stiffly erect. Sepals 5, broadly ovate at the base, suddenly 

 narrowed into long acicular points half as long again as the capsule. — 

 C. Muelleri var. strietus Cheesem., Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906), 68. 



Bab. — South Island : Upper Clarence Valley, near Lake Tennyson ; 

 T. F. C. Shingly flats in the Tasman and Hooker Valleys ; T. F. C. Dunstan 

 Mountains; Petrie ! Altitudinal range, 2,500-3,500 ft. 



In the first edition of the Manual I treated this as a variety of 

 C. Muelleri ; but since then I have had opportunities of studying it in 

 the Mount Cook district, where it is not uncommon, and have now no hesita- 

 tion in constituting it a distinct species. It is mainly distinguished by 

 the short, strict, erect leaves, and broad calyx -lobes which are suddenly 

 narrowed into long acicular points much exceeding the capsules. 



5. Colobanthus Hookeri Cheesm. new comb. 



A small densely tufted nioss-like plant ; forming small rounded patches 

 1-1 \ in. across, smooth and glabrous in all its parts. Leaves closely 

 imbricate, |— \'m. long, strict and rigid, subulate, tapering from the base 

 to a short acicular apex, channelled above, convex below, sometimes with 

 a groove between the midrib and the margin. Flowers terminal, solitary ; 

 peduncles short, the flowers slightly exceeding the uppermost leaves. 

 Sepals 5, ovate-subulate, thickened at the base, acute or very shortly 

 mucronate, equalling or very slightl} r exceeding the capsule. Stamens 

 always 5. — C. subulatus Hook, f., Fl. Antarct., i (1844), 13, but not Sagina 

 subulata D'Urv., Fl. Ins. Mai (1826), 617, or Fl. Antarct., ii (1847), 247, 

 t. 93. C. subulatus Hook. f.. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864), 25. C. Benthamianus 

 Cheesem., Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906), 68, but not of Fenzl. 



Bab. — Auckland and Campbell Island : Booker, Kirk ! Aston ! 



This is the plant long known to New Zealand botanists as Colobanthus 

 subulatus. But in the Subantarctic Islands of Neiv Zealand (ii, v. 402) I 

 have pointed out that the plate of C. subulatus given in the Flora Antarctica 

 (ii, t. 93) under the name of Sagina subulata represents a plant with a 

 much more lax habit than the Auckland and Campbell Islands species ; 

 and that the sepals are only 4 in number, instead of 5. I think that it is 

 quite clear that the New Zealand plant differs in several important characters 

 from the Fuegan and Falkland Island species, and, as the name subulata must 

 remain with the South American plant, I have applied the name Colobanthus 

 Bookeri (in memory of its original discoverer) to the species found within 

 the New Zealand area. 



I have not seen any South Island specimens that I can refer to the 

 species, although three localities are quoted by Hooker. Possibly they 

 represent small states of C. acicularis. 



