556 Tra?isactio?is. 



Its absence from the salt meadows at Timaru may be accounted, for by tlie 

 fact that the soil there is of a sandy nature; but its presence only in the 

 damp situations at H.C. and N.Br, would seem to point to the conclusion 

 that, when driven from the edges of the lagoons by the more vigorous Sali- 

 cornia australis and Cotula coronopifolia, it was unable to thrive in the 

 somewhat dry, exposed salt meadow. 



Life Form. — Small perennial herb, with slender stems 10-30 cm. long. 

 According to Cheeseman the stems are glabrous ; but, although no actual 

 hairs are visible to the naked eye, the stems have a roughened appearance, 

 and, by running the finger down one of them, one comes in contact with 

 very small, bristle-like projections. The plant grows from a tough creeping 

 rhizome, giving off at the nodes rosettes of leaves and sparingly branched 

 adventitious roots (fig. 6, a-c). In the shade of the Plagianthus bushes, 

 or of the rushes, however, the stems are erect or ascending, 10-30 cm. 

 long, sometimes giving off stolons from their bases. 



Leaves 4-32 mm. long, slightly fieshy, very variable in size, colour, and 

 shape. The margins are invariably entire. 



It is remarkable that the prostrate form at N.Br, differs very much in 

 general appearance from the same form at H.C, though the two places are 

 so short a distance apart — three miles. At H.C. the leaves form dense 

 mats of bright-green colour. They are lanceolate in shape, with acute 

 apices, and the petiole is marked off rather sharply from the lamina 

 (fig. 6, c). At N.Br, the rosettes are not united into such dense masses, 

 the leaves are of a dull, greyish green, and are obovate with very obtuse 

 apices, while petiole and lamina are not sharply marked off from each 

 other (fig. 6, d, h). On the erect branches (fig. 6, b), in the shade of the 

 Plagianthus bushes, the leaves reach their greatest size. Towards the 

 upper part of the branch they are small, with short petioles, or sometimes 

 almost sessile ; and they are arranged in alternating whorls. Lower down 

 are larger, single leaves, with petiole and blade of about equal length. 

 These are broadly lanceolate. Stipules are absent in all cases. Fig. 6, c, 

 shows a long trailing branch found overhanging a bank at N.Br. The 

 leaves are small, shortly petiolate, and appear singly, not in whorls. This 

 branch was at first mistaken for one of SeUiera radicans ; and the mistake 

 was not detected until a microscopic examination of the leaves was made, 

 as it was remarkably like branches of Scllicra radicans found in the same 

 situation (fig. 1, e). 



About two years ago, a plant of Samolus re-pens was l)rought from the 

 Poor Knights Islands by Dr. Cockayne, and planted in the College rockery. 

 This plant differs so much in general appearance that Dr. Cockayne con- 

 siders it a separate variety, giving it the MS. name of stricta.^ 



The branches are all quite erect, and are very slender. The leaves are 

 small, 6-10 mm. long, quite sessile, bright green, and linear (fig. 6, a, /). 



13. Mimuius repens. 



Station. — Collected only at N.Br., and here only in the pools of brackish 

 water in the meadows. AH the plants found weie completely submerged. 

 It is undoubtedly the dominant species of theie pools, though Cotula 

 coronopifolia also occurs rather plentifully in patches. 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxix, p. 356. 



