Colenso. — On new Phcmogamic Plants. 1$9 



creasing in length at tips of branches around flower, those of 

 the wider and smaller leaves very short, broad, dilated and sub- 

 amplexicaul. Flowers few (seen), small, terminal, solitary, 

 sessile ; bracts very small ; calycine lobes ovate, nerved, striate ; 

 margins membranaceous, ciliate. Corolla tubular, 2 lines long, 

 red, glabrous on the outside ; lobes 5, narrow, sub-linear-ovate, 

 one-third length of tube, slightly spreading, densely bearded 

 within with white wool. Anthers oblong, wholly enclosed in top 

 of tube ; style capitate, stout, nearly half the length of tube. 

 Drupe globular, rather large, 2 lines diameter, dark-pink-red ; 

 style persistent. 



Hab. " On the arid lava-flow, among scoria, etc., altitude, 

 3,000 to 4,000 feet," western slopes of Mount Tongariro, County 

 of East Taupo ; 1887 : Mr. H. Bill. 



Obs. Of this plant I have only seen three flowering speci- 

 mens, each specimen though much branched bearing only a 

 single flower. I suspect the true flowering season was long 

 past, and though I had several leafing specimens, two only bore 

 fruit, — a single drupe on each ! It is, however, very distinct 

 from the other known New Zealand species, and may possibly 

 prove to be identical with one of the many described Australian 

 ones ; to some of them it evidently approaches very closely. 



Genus 6. Epacris, Smith. 



1. E. affinis, sp. nov. 



Plant shrubby ; branches slender, close, ascending, 9-10 

 inches high, leafy from near base ; branchlets pilose. Leaves 

 dusky-olive-green, numerous, imbricate, sub-adpressed, ^-2 lines 

 long, mostly broadly ovate, sometimes sub-rhomboidal and 

 orbicular-oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, smooth, shining, keeled ; 

 tip thickened ; margin slightly incurved ; petioles very short. 

 Flowers numerous in corymbs at tips of branches ; pedicels 

 short, 1 line long ; bracts broadly ovate and (with calyx lobes) 

 1-nerved, striate ; calyx lobes ovate, margins finely ciliate, 

 incurved. Corolla lobes wavy, rather long, rounded, obtuse, 

 much recurved, red-brown ; anthers large, oblong, exserted, 

 dark-red ; filaments curved. Seeds very small, triangular, 

 smooth, edges thickish, obtuse, yellow-brown, flattish on one 

 side and gibbous on the other. 



Hab. " On the arid lava-flow, altitude, 3,000 to 4.000 feet," 

 western slopes of Mount Tongariro, Countv of East Taupo ; 

 1887 : Mr. H. Hill. 



Obs. This species is nearly allied to E. alpina, Hook, f., 

 (discovered by me in the same mountainous region,) but differs 

 in its more close habit, its smaller adpressed and variable leaves, 

 its narrower and ciliated bracts, and its corymbose flowers. In 

 this last character (rather unusual in the genus) it approaches 



