442 Transactions. 



Gaya lyallii, var. ribifolia. 



Dr. Cockayne has given this the rank of a species, under 

 the name of G. ribifolia (Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxxviii, 373). He 

 appears to rely principally on the more incised and less pointed 

 leaves, with a more copious stellate pubescence on the under- 

 surface. No doubt it is a well-marked variety, but I cannot 

 accept the differences as being sufficient to separate it as. a 

 species. 



XL TlLIACE^. 



Entelea arborescens. 



Mr. J. H. Macmahon informs me that a few plants of this 

 are still to be found in Resolution Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, 

 but that it is fast verging towards extinction in that locality. 



Elaeocarpus dentatus, var. obovatus, Cheesem., n. var. 



Leaves broadly obovate ; blade 2-2| in. long by 1^2 in. 

 broad, rounded at the apex, at the base rather suddenly nar- 

 rowed into a long slender petiole. Flowers not seen. 



Riwaka (north-west Nelson) ; H. J. Mattheivs ! 



A very distinct variety, respecting which fuller information 

 is much desired. Although E. dentatus is a variable plant, I 

 have never seen specimens with the leaves so broad and obtuse. 



XXIL Leguminos.^. 

 Clianthus puniceus. 



At the present time this is so rare in the wild state tjiat 

 most New Zealand botanists are only acquainted with it as a 

 cultivated plant. Its rarity has induced some writers to ques- 

 tion its nativity in New Zealand — as, for instance, the Rev. R. 

 Taylor, who suggested that it originated in the Bay of Islands 

 from a box of seeds taken by the Maoris from a French ship 

 which they had plundered ! It is perhaps hardly necessary to 

 observe that this ingenious hypothesis does not explain how, 

 in that case, the plant could have been previously gathered by 

 Banks and Solander in both the Bay of Islands and East Cape 

 districts. Mr. Taylor also neglects the pertinent fact that C. 

 -puniceus has never been found in any other country but New 

 Zealand. However, the present distribution of the plant is so 

 restricted that it is in every way probable that within a few 

 years it will have disappeared in a wild state. Under these 

 circumstances it appears desirable to particularise those lo- 

 calities where there is reason to believe it is truly native, or 

 has been within the memory of those living. 



