424 Transactions. — Botany. 



School (Otago), where I have had several opportunities of 

 studying the plant in flower and also in fruit. I can therefore 

 say positively that the leaves and fruit as described by me 

 belong to the same species, and even to the same plants, as 

 many perfect specimens in my possession conclusively show. 

 The statement that " G. ovata, as described by Mr. Petrie, 

 consists of two distinct plants " is thus wholly unwarranted. 

 Mr. Kirk no doubt means to say that a number of specimens 

 sent him by me under the name G. ovata contained, in his 

 opinion, two distinct plants, which is a very different thing, 

 and may or may not be the fact. 



I expressed no opinion as to whether my G. ovata w^as or 

 was not identical with the probable fourth species of Gunnera, 

 referred to on page 68 of the " Handbook of the Flora of New 

 Zealand." I merely quoted Mr. N. E. Brown's opinion, I 

 may now, however, say that that botanist's view is not so 

 unlikely as Mr. Kirk supposes, as the leaves of G. densiflora, 

 Hook, f., as described in the Handbook, present a close re- 

 semblance to those of G. ovata. I was not at the time 

 acquainted with G. dcnsifuora, and very properly refrained 

 from indorsing, or even remarking on, Mr. Brown's opinion, 

 which has been improperly ascribed to me. 



As to Gunnera mixta, T. Kirk, the leaves described in my 

 character of G. ovata undoubtedly do not belong to it, for the 

 leaves and fruit as described form part of the same actual 

 specimens, and the fruit is acknowledged to belong to a dis- 

 tinct species — namely, my G. ovata or Colenso's G. flavida, 

 whichever be the correct name for it. Though I have a con- 

 siderable suite of specimens of the plant distinguished as G. 

 mixta, I have not been able to satisfy myself that it is distinct 

 from G. ovata. Mr. Kirk's description, owing to imperfect 

 material, is far from accurate. He is not aware that the 

 plant is almost as strictly dioecious as G. ovata, and that its 

 inflorescence differs from the latter only in trifling characters. 

 It is, however, difficult to accurately compare the flowers of 

 the species of Gunnera except in the fresh state. The fruit, 

 too, of G. mixta is not well known, though in my species it 

 differs but little from that of G. ovata. i3ut the fruit needs 

 to be examined in the fresh state before the position of the 

 plant can be settled with certainty. 



