266 Transactions. — Botany. 



Unlike the forms mentioned in the early part of this paper, 

 it is a strongly-marked species, as will be seen from the 

 appended description. 



Sonchus grandifolius, n. s. 



A succulent herb, 2ft.-4ft. high, rhizomes stout, fleshy,, 

 creeping, sometimes 2^in. diameter. Eadical leaves erect, 

 lift.-2ft. long, 4in.-7in. broad, petiole 6iu.-9in. long, stout, 

 dilated at base, but not clasping, blade oblong or ovate- 

 oblong, deeply lobed, pinnatifid or pinnate ; segments 4-6 on 

 each side, broad, lobulate, often overlapping, coarsely doubly 

 serrate or dentate, almost coriaceous, scabrid above. Lower 

 cauline leaves petiolate, upper broadly sessile, not auriculate. 

 Heads lai'ge, lin.-l^in. diameter, peduncles white, with cottony 

 wool. Involucral leaves in 3-4 series, broad, subacute, outer 

 with a median line of spinous or almost foliaceous processes. 

 Achenes large, broad, with 1 or 2 stout median longitudinal 

 ribs, and about 4 finer ones, margins broad. 



Hah. Chatham Islands. ' 



The ligulate florets appear to be yellow, tinged at the 

 apices with faint salmon-colour or purple. It is a noble 

 addition to the New Zealand flora, and adds another remark- 

 able species to the singular group of endemic plants on the 

 Chatham Islands. 



The fleshy rhizome may possibly prove valuable for cattle- 

 food. 



Art. XXY. — Descriptions of Neio Native Plants, d'c. 

 By D. Petkie, M.A., F.L.S. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 13tli June, 1S93.] 



1. Ranunculus novse-zelandise, sp. nov. 



A rather small glabrous fleshy glaucous plant. Eootstock 

 covered by the withered fibres of decayed petioles, and send- 

 ing down many rather stout fibrous roots. 



Leaves all radical ; petioles about lin. long, flattened, ex- 

 panded and provided with broad membranous wings at the 

 base ; blades ternately divided, the lower leaflets sessile and 

 subdivided into two or three deeply 3-lobed crenate segments ; 

 upper leaflet distant, broadly petiolate, subdivided into three 

 deeply 3-lobed crenate segments. 



Scapes solitary, or very few, one-flowered, glabrous, rather 

 stout, lin. to 2|in. long. 



Sepals broadly oblong, obtuse, the back purplish and 



