Peteie. — Description of Neiv Native Plants. 425 



Art. XXXVII. — Descriptions of Neiv Native Plants. 



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



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 3rd August, 1S96.'} 



1. Epilol}ium elegans, sp. nov. 



Stems simple or branched from the base, slender, 2in.-5in. 

 high, marked above by two bands of fine crisp pubescence, 

 almost or quite glabrous below, decumbent and rooting at 

 the base, then erect. 



Leaves crowded below, the cauline more distant, opposite 

 (except the flowering-bracts) and connate, linear or narrow 

 lanceolate (iin.-fin. long by lin. broad), obtuse or subacute, 

 sometimes submucronate, shortly and obscurely toothed, thin, 

 light-green, glabrous ; midrib evident, sometimes translucent ; 

 secondary nerves very obscure. 



Flowers few, in the axils of the upper leaves, large, white, 

 shortly pedicelled ; petals deeply lobed, about twice the 

 length of the sepals. 



Capsules glabrous, reddish-brown, f in.-ljin. long, narrowed 

 at the apex ; fruiting peduncles much longer than the flower- 

 ing, slender, finely pubescent, 2in. long, or less. 



Testa of seeds smooth. 



Hab. Dunedin ; Mount Kyeburn ; Naseby ; Spear-grass 

 Flat; Mount Torlesse : 300ft. -3,000ft. 



In stunted forms the stems are simple, the leaves closely 

 crowded, the flowers solitary, and the peduncles and capsules 

 much shorter than in well-grown forms. 



The present species is close to E. confertifolium, Hook. f. 

 The linear thin leaves, larger flowers, elongating pubescent 

 peduncles, longer brown capsules, and smooth seeds are its 

 chief differential characters. 



2. Hydrocotyle hydrophila, sp. nov. 



A very small species, everywhere perfectly glabrous or 

 with a few slender hairs at the tops of the petioles. 



Stems creeping and rooting, very slender, sparingly 

 branched. 



Leaves |in. in diameter, 3-partite to the base, thin, with 

 rather long slender petioles ; lobes of the leaf obcuneate, 

 rounded at the tip or 2- or 3-crenate. 



Peduncles filiform, lin. long, or less; umbels few-flowered 

 (1 or 2, rarely 3) ; flowers sessile or subsessile. 



Fruit small, glabrous ; carpels i-in. broad -^^m. high, acute 

 at the edges, with one rib on each face. 



