216 Tranaactions. 



Art. XXIII. — Some Recent Additions to the Flora of New Zealand. 



By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Curator of the Auckland Museum. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 22nd November, 1909.] 



1. Olearia pachyphylla, Cheesem., n. sp. 



0. furfuracecB affinis sed foliis majoribus et multo coriaceis, capitulis 

 longissimis, involucri bracteis multo numerosioribus. 



Frutex 1-5-3 m. altus, rami robusti, angulati, sulcati. Folia 12-5 cm. 

 longa, ovata vol ovato-oblonga, obtusa vel subacuta, valde coriacea, supra 

 glaberrima, subtus densissime sed appresse sericeo-tomentosa ; venis reti- 

 culatis. Capitula longissima, 1-5 cm.-l-8 cm. longa ; involucri bractese 

 nixmerosae, 35-40, multiseriatae, sericeo-tomentosse, inferiores minutse. 

 Flores 7-10. 



Hah. — North Island : Bay of Plenty, hills at Opape, on the road from 

 Opotiki to Torere and Te Kaha ; Bishop Williams ! Flowers in March. 



A much and closely branched shrub 4—8 ft. high ; branches very stout, 

 grooved and angled, the younger ones clothed with appressed brownish 

 tomentum. Leaves alternate ; blade 3-5 in. long by 2-2 1 in. broad, ovate 

 or oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute, rounded and more or less unequal at 

 the base, excessively thick and coriaceous, glabrous above, beneath clothed 

 with densely appressed silvery or silvery-brown tomentum ; margins entire 

 but more or less midulate ; veins finely reticulated beneath, less evident 

 above ; petiole stout, grooved, 1-1 J in. long. Corymbs much branched, 

 3-5 in. diameter ; peduncles 4-6 in. long. Heacls -very numerous, ^| in. 

 long, narrow at the base but gradually widening upwards ; scales of the 

 involucre in very many series, densely imbricated, the lowest minute, the 

 upper gradually larger, the whole more or less clothed with yellowish- 

 brown woolly tomentum. Florets 7-10 ; ray-florets 3-5, disc-fiorets 4-6. 

 Pappus hairs unequal in size, rigid, thickened and fimbriate at the tips. 

 Achenes striate, silky-pubescent. 



A very remarkable plant. In habit and fohage it much resembles 0. 

 furfuracea, and when out of flower might easily be taken for a robust large- 

 leaved form of that species. But the flower-heads are altogether unlike 

 those of 0. furfuracea, or of any other species, being remarkable for their 

 great length (quite | in.) and the number of the involucral scales (35-45), 

 which are imbricated in 6-8 series, thus giving the involucre an altogether 

 different appearance from that of 0. furfuracea. In that species the heads 

 do not exceed |^in., and the scales number 12-15. 



For the discovery of the plant we are indebted to the Right Rev. W. L. 

 Wilhams, late Bishop of Waiapu, who has done so much to elucidate the 

 botany of the East Cape district, and who observed it at Opape several 

 years ago. After several visits to the locality he succeeded in obtaining 

 flowering specimens, from which the above description has been drawn up. 



2. Raoulia Gibbsii, Cheesem., n. sp. 



R. bryoidei proxima, sed differt ramis non densissime compactis, capitulis 

 majoribus, floribus numerosioribus. 



Planta formans csespite 15-25 cm. diam. Rami numerosi, vaHdi, 

 laxo cpespitosi, suberecti vel decumbentes, dense imbricato-foUati, 4-10 cm. 



