558 Transactions. 



Life Form. — Erect perennial herb, perfectly glabrous. Stems thick, 

 succulent, creeping. Roots are emitted at the nodes. Branches erect or 

 ascending, very succulent, sometimes reaching a length of 22 cm. They 

 are perfectly cylindrical. 



Leaves small, sessile, in some cases slightly sheathing at the base, 

 10-13 cm. long. They are fleshy, ovate, have entire margins, and some- 

 what acute apices. 



14. Selliera radicans. 



Station. — (1.) H.C. : (a.) Overhanging the banks of the channels, where 

 there are long, prostrate, but not rooting, stems, ending in stiff, free 

 branches. (6.) Forming a dense matted growth, along with Salicornia, in all 

 parts of the salt meadow, (c.) On the mud-flats at the edges of the rushes, 

 where it is very luxuriant. (2.) N.Br. : As at H.C. (3.) Tu. : (a.) In the 

 meadow, in close mats in the grass, (b.) Among the rocks of the railway 

 embankment. 



Life Form. — A perennial, perfectly glabrous herb, with yellowish creep- 

 ing, rooting stems, often being much interlaced, so as to form a thick turf. 



Leaves are given ofi in alternating whorls at the nodes. On the upper 

 part of the free branches they occur singly, though lower down they are 

 again in whorls. They are 4-10 cm. long, spathulate, exstipulate, very 

 fleshy and brittle, with apices acute or sometimes obtuse, margins entire 

 and shghtly rolled back. The petiole is not marked off sharply from the 

 lamina, though in the leaves given oS from the creeping stems it is rather 

 long. In the salt meadow at Tu., on the other hand, the leaves are almost 

 sessile, though those on the embankment have the ordinary petiole. Again, 

 in the case of the free ascending branches in the masses overhanging the 

 channels at H.C, the upper leaves are practically sessile, their bases slightly 

 clasping the stem (fig. 7, a). In the more exposed parts, in the meadows, 

 some of the leaves show beautiful yellow or reddish autumn colouration, a 

 phenomenon somewhat rare in the New Zealand flora. The most brilhant 

 colouring was found in leaves from the embankment at Tu. 



Roots are small, white, and sparingly branched. 



Mr. Cheeseman has written a very interesting paper on the pollination 

 of the flowers of this species.* 



15. Cotula dioica. 



Station.— {!.) H.C: (a.) Plentiful in meadows, forming a matted gro^^'th. 

 (6.) At the edges of the mud-flats. (2.) N.Br. : As at H.C. (3.) Tu. : Out 

 in the meadow among the grasses. 



Life Form. — A small, peremiial, evergreen herb, with a creeping stem, 

 3-12 cm. long, rooting at the nodes. 



Leaves in tufts, slightly aromatic, rather fleshy, petiolate, exstipulate, 

 and with a membranous sheath at the base. They are very variable in 

 size and shape (fig. 8, e-h). They may be spathulate or obovate, crenate, 

 serrate or lobed, sometimes pimiate, the apex being either acute or obtuse. 

 In the lobed forms the lobes may have entire margins or may have irregular 

 serrations towards their apices. As regards size, in the dry parts of the 

 meadow they are from 5-10 mm. long, 2-3 mm. broad (fig. 8, a) ; while in 

 the marshes they may be 4-5 cm. long, 5-12 mm. broad (fig. 8, c, d). In 



* Trans. X.Z. Inst., vol. ix, p. 542. 



