426 Transactions. — Botany. 



Hah. Matata (Bay of Plenty) ; Otago Harbour ; Wycliffe 

 Bay; Tomahawk Lagoon ; Bluff Harbour; Stewart Island. 



I am indebted to Mr. B. C. Aston for a knowledge of 

 several of the foregoing habitats, as well as for fruiting speci- 

 mens from Wycliffe Bay. 



This species is near H. muscosa, E. Br,, of which I was at 

 first disposed to regard it as a variety. The smaller size of 

 the plant, and especially of the carpels (which are not one- 

 third the size of those of H. muscosa), its wide distribution, 

 the constancy of its characters throughout its range, and its 

 restriction to wet seaside stations, seem to me sufficient to 

 establish its specific independence. It has been repeatedly 

 referred to var. tripartita of Pozoa trifoUolata, Hook, f., but 

 the carpels were then unknown. These leave no doubt as to 

 the genus in which it must be ranked. 



3. Oiirisia cockayniana, sp. nov. 



A tufted glabrescent small-leaved alpine species. 



Stems creeping and matted, with numerous short branches, 

 rather stout. 



Leaves in opposite pairs, not imbricating : radical fin. to 

 l^in. long; blade short, coriaceous, broadly ovate, obtuse, 

 glabrous, crenate-serrate, the lower surface with strongly- 

 marked anastomosing veins, and mottled with spots and 

 blotches of purple ; petioles longer than the blades, broad, 

 flat, fringed at the edges with long ciliate white hairs, and 

 bearing some sparse long hairs on the back. 



Scapes simple, leafy, purplish, glabrescent, stout, 4in. to 

 Gin. high. Cauline leaves and bracts in pairs, ovate or ovate- 

 cuneate, subsessile, ciliate along the lower margin, as large as 

 the blades of the radical leaves or larger (iin. long and nearly 

 as broad), not diminishing towards the top. 



Flowers in pairs (five or fewer), large, white, on slender 

 glabrous pedicels lin. to l^in. in length. Calyx cut nearly to 

 the base into oblong or slightly cuneate segments, glabrous 

 but for a few ciliate hairs at the base of the lobes. Corolla- 

 lobes broadly obtuse, emarginate. Capsules -lin. long, rather 

 more than half the length of the persistent calyx. 



Hab. Mount Alexander ; Teremakau Valley : 5,000ft. 



The present species, which was discovered some years ago 

 by Mr. L. Cockayne, has grown very freely in gardens at 

 Dunedin. It is easily cultivated, and forms a showy plant. 

 Its large bracts easily distinguish it from the other species 

 native to New Zealand. 



