502 Transactions. — Botany. 



supplement to that work he adds, " I have received many- 

 form s of Carmichaelia, and they certainly do not tend to clear 

 up the difficulty of discriminating the species, but rather com- 

 plicate them, several of these being intermediate between 

 those already defined. The whole genus requires careful 

 revision in New Zealand, and a judicious selection of ticketed 

 specimens from the same and different individuals at many 

 different localities, various periods of growth, different seasons 

 of the year, &c. Their habits and variations should also be 

 narrowly watched in a growing state" (ii., 327). Speaking 

 for myself, I am convinced that until this has been done it 

 will be impossible to define the species in a thoroughly satis- 

 factory manner, on account of the great amount of variability 

 exhibited by many of them at different stages of growth. It 

 is therefore obvious that I do not claim immunity from error 

 in the descriptive portion of the following arrangement. 



Carmichaelia, E. Br. In Bot. Eeg., xi., 912 (1825). 



"With considerable variety in stature, habit, foliage, and in- 

 florescence, all the species of this genus exhibit a 2-valved 

 pod, with the margins and placentas consolidated and 

 thickened, the valves falling away from this framework, or 

 more rarely opening at the base or apex, leaving the solitary 

 or numerous seeds attached to the placentas for a longer or 

 shorter period. 



Habit, etc. 



The species may form dense leafless patches, less than an 

 inch in height, on the surface of the ground (C. enysii), or 

 large rounded masses 2in.-5in. high (C. monroi), or bushy 

 leafless shrubs 2ft.-6ft. high (C aiistralis, C. virgata), or leafy 

 shrubs 8ft. -9ft. high, with elegant pendulous branches (C 

 odorata). The tallest species is said to attain the height of 

 14ft., but is restricted to Lord Howe's Island.'''' Some species 

 have elegant whip-like shoots, while others are inelegant 

 bushes, with numerous short irregular branches. The whole 

 aspect of certain species is completely altered when growing 

 in situations open to the attacks of sheep. 



The branches may be flat, fin. broad (C williamsii), or 

 almost filiform, terete or plano-convex, erect, distichous or 

 spreading. Some species exhibit flattened branchlets at the 

 beginning of the season, which become terete or plano-convex 

 before the fruit reaches maturity ; more slowly this charac- 

 teristic is exhibited by many of the larger species, the 

 branches of which almost invariably become terete with the 

 development of the plant. The branchlets are usually striated 



* C. exsul, F. Muell. The only species not found in New Zealand. 



