366 Transactions. 



4. THE FLORISTIC BOTANY. 



(A.) Notes on various Species. 



The number of species noted (357) most certainly does not represent 

 nearly all that must occur in an area so large and diversified, and future 

 observers cannot fail to much extend the list. At the same time, it may 

 be pointed out that the steppe, owing partly to its climate and partly to 

 the constant grass-fires, is distinctly barren, while the adjacent subalpine 

 and alpine belts consist chiefly of dry rock and shingle-sUp, stations hostile 

 to plant-Hfe. Further, so far as that part of the district with a forest 

 climate is concerned, only the sunny side of a small portion of the Rakaia 

 Valley, the poorest in both flora and vegetation, was examined, while the 

 examination was but a cursory one. 



(1.) Luzula ulophylla (Buchen.) sp. nov. = L. racemosa Desv. var. ulo- 

 phylla Buchen. in Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschrift, p. 245, 1898. 



An excellent description is given in Cheeseman's Manual, p. 738. The 

 plant can be recognized at a glance, and certainly is one of the most distinct 

 forms of the genus in New Zealand, as Cheeseman has already pointed out. 



(2.) Bulbinella Hookeri (Col.) Benth. and Hook, f., var. angustifolia 

 var. nov. 



In omnibus partibus typo minor, non autem glaucis, superiore super- 

 ficie folii concava, racemo quam typi breviore, densioreque. 



South Island : Common in the east of Canterbury and Otago. 



This is the common form of the steppe climate of the South Island. 

 The leaves are concave on the upper surface, green, thicker and narrower 

 (1-1 cm. at base) than those of the North Island and western Nelson plant 

 (the type), which are flat, broad (3 cm. at base), and glaucous. The raceme 

 is altogether less open than in the type, and the flowers are smaller. Seen 

 side by side the two plants are most distinct, and can be separated at a 

 glance. We are indebted to Mr. T. Keir, of Rangiora, for first pointing 

 out the great difference between the two forms ; in fact, he considered — 

 and with much justice — that they were distinct species, but we hesitate 

 so to treat them in the absence of a large series of specimens. 



(3.) Epilobium confertifolium Hook. f. 



The above name was restricted to the plant of the New Zealand sub- 

 antarctic botanical province by Cockayne in 1904, and Cheeseman in 1909 

 has come to the same conclusion. This leaves the New Zealand forms 

 hitherto referred to this species without a name. Of these forms there are 

 probably more than one to which we are inclined to accord specific rank, 

 but think it best to defer so doing until examining more abundant mate- 

 rial, and, above all, testing their fixity by cultivation. 



(4.) 1. Anisotome Haastii (F. Muell.) comb. nov. = Ligusticum Haastii 

 F. Muell. ex Hook. f. in Handbk. of N.Z. Flora, p. 95, 1864. 



2. Anisotome filifolia (Hook, f.) comb. nov. = Liqusticuni filifolium Hook. f. 



in Handbk. of N.Z. Flora, p. 95, 1864. 



3. Anisotome carnosula (Hook, f.) comb. nov. = Ligusticum carnosulum 



Hook. f. in Handbk. of N.Z. Flora p. 96, 1864. 



4. Anisotome pilifera (Hook, f.) comb. nov. = Ligusticum piliferum 



Hook. f. in Handbk. of N.Z. Flora, p. 96, 1864. 



