BY A. A. HAMILTON. 263 



siiffieiently stable to warrant the retention of the speeitic rank and nomenclature 

 as proposed by him. 



Peostanthera densa, n.sp. 



Cronulla (A. A. Hamilton, 9, 1911; E. Cheel, 7, 1918.) 



Frutex compactus subarboribus florens 5 — 9 dec, altus. Folia sucida, brevi- 

 ter petiolata, cordata ad ovata-lanceolata, costa hirsuta prominente precursa, 5 mm. 

 ad 1 cm. longa, apud extremitates ramorum crebra, nonnumquam fasciculata. 

 Semina metallica ritentia. P. marifoUa R.Br, affinis. 



A compact erect undershrub 5 — 9 dec. high with terete hirsute l)ranches. 

 Leaves succulent, very shortly petiolate, from cordate to ovate-lanceolate with re- 

 volute margins, scabrous hispid above, somewhat paler underneath with a prom- 

 inent liirsute midvein, 5 mm. to 1 cm. long, densely crowded at the tips of the 

 branches, occasionally fasciculate. Flowers axillary on very short pedicels with 

 linear hirsute bracts 3 mm. long, the floral leaves similar to those of the stem, 

 '^alyx hirsute, 5 mm. long, the lips entire and nearly equal. Corolla more than 

 twice as long as the calyx, sprinkled on the outside with short hairs, the broad 

 thi-oat bearded inside with long white hairs. Anthers with one apisendage about 

 twice as long as the cell, the other short and adnate. Seeds with a metallic lustre 



Its position in the genus is under Bentham's series Convexae following, in 

 .specific sequence P. marifolia R.Br., with which it is connected by a series of speci- 

 mens from Helensburgh (A. A. Hamilton, 10, 1913) taken from a shrub of 9 — 12 

 dec. with an upright spreading habit. The typical P. marifolia of the Port Jack- 

 son district is a scrambling undershrub of 3— -5 dec. 



The plants were found gi'owing in profusion on the ocean slope of the rock\- 

 headland (Hawkesbury Series) at Cronulla, and the crass foliage is doubtless a 

 response to the halophytic conditions prevailing in this station, as plants growing 

 in the vicinity of tidal waters frequently develop a succulent habit. The species 

 is confined to a limited area Ijetween the ocean beach at Cronulla and the 

 northern entrance to Port Hacking. 



Pkostaxthera i!hojii!ea R.Br. 



Port Macquarie (E. R. Brown, 2, 1897); Douglas Park ( A. A. Hamilton, 

 12, 1915) . Two new specific localities extending the range of this somewhat 

 rare species. Previously recorded from the Blue Mountains and Tllawarra. 



Prostantheea saxicola K.Br. var. Montana, n.var. 



Katoomba; Narrow Neck (A. A. Hamilton, 1, 1903). Larger in all its 

 parts than the typical P. saxicola, the flowers and young shoots more thickly 

 clothed with liairs, the setaceous bracts minute and only occasionally developed. 

 This variety approaches a form of P. Behriana Schlecht, but differs from that 

 species in the length of the calyx lips (longer in P. Behriana), the minutes bracts, 

 and the bristly tomentiim. (The bracts are conspicuous in P. Behriana and 

 the tomentum of a fine texture.) It is usually found in scattered patches on' shel- 

 tered hillsides, on the higher elevations of the Blue Mountains. Specimens in the 

 National Herbarium are from Mt. Victoria (R. T. Baker, 12, 1890) ; Blue Moun- 

 tains (E. Betche, 12, 1902); Blackheath (J. H. Maiden, 1, 1904). A specimen 

 from Milton, near top of Pigeon House, n. 775 (R. H. Cambage, 12, 1902) is 

 also referred to this variety. 



