Oliver. — Vegetation of the Kermadec Islands. 165 



Acianthus Sinclairi, Hook. f. 



Forest, Sunday Island. 

 New Zealand. 



PiPERACE.E. 



Macropiper excelsum (Forst. f.), Miq., var. major, Cheeseman. 



Flowers April to October. Ripe fruit October to February. 

 Forest, ngaio scrub, buffalo-grass meadow, Sunday Island. 

 Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, S. Polynesia. 



Peperomia Endlicheri, Miq. 



Two spikes with the distal ends inverted, and bearing flowers on their 

 innar as well as their outer surfaces, were observed on plants growing among 

 coastal rocks on Sunday Island. It occurred to me that these anomalous 

 spikes might give some clue as to the origin of the spicate inflorescence ; 

 and its derivation from a cup-shaped receptacle by elongation and eversion 

 is suggested. 



Coastal and inland rocks, also epiphytic on trees (forest), Sunday Island. 



Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand. 



Chloranthace^. 



Ascarina lanceolata, Hook. f. 



Flowers unisexual, a male and a female in the axil of a broadly ovate, 

 acute bract, and with a smaller bracteole on each side. Male flower a single 

 anther, sessile, oblong, .3 mm. long, 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally on the 

 outer margins. Female flower placed within the anther, which falls away 

 after dehiscing ; ovary sessile, ovate, 1-5 mm. long ; stigma sessile, broad. 



Fruit crowded on compound spikes, several of which are usually together 

 on the branches below and among the leaves. Drupe oblong, indehiscent, 

 3 mm. long, 2 mm. in diameter, white with irregular longitudinal markings 

 of purpUsh-black. Exocarp succulent, exuding a purple juice when crushed. 

 Putamen ovoid, compressed, chestnut-brown, 1-5 mm. long. 



Flowers June to September. Ripe fruit January to May. 



Wet forest, Sunday Island. 



Endemic. (According to Mr. Cheeseman (4 ; p. 598), this species or a 

 very close ally is found in Fiji, Samoa, and Rarotonga.) 



Urticace^. 



Boehmeria dealbata, Cheeseman. 



Seedling. Hypocotyle filiform, terete, whitish, 1 cm. long. Cotyledons 

 orbicular, apex truncate or slightly indented, light green, 1-5 mm. in diameter. 

 Stem erect, minutely hairy, + 2 cm. to first leaves, reddish -green. First 

 leaves ovate, acute, entire, light green, small, petiole 7 mm., lamina 9 mm. 

 long. Second, leaves broadly ovate, acute, obscurely serrate, green on 

 both sides, petiole and principal veins reddish-green, minutely hairy ; laminae 

 17 X 10 mm., 22 x 1.3 mm. 



Forest, landslip (Denham Bay), Sunday Island. Ravine in Macauley 

 Island. 



Endemic. Closely allied to B. australis, Endl., of Norfolk Island, and 

 B. calophleba, C. Moore and F. Muell., of Lord Howe Island. 



