154 HALORAGEA. [Gunnera. 
sepals, and with 1 or 2 ciliate bracts at the base of the pedicel. 
Females crowded at the base of the panicle. Calyx-lobes 2, linear, 
acute. Styles 2, very long. Fruit minute, 4, in. diam., globose or 
broadly ovoid, fleshy or coriaceous, red or white.—Raoul, Choia, 
t. 8; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 65; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 67; Kirk, Stu- 
dents’ Fl. 152. 
Var. strigosa, Kirk, 1.c.—More or less clothed with copious strigose hairs, 
sometimes almost hoary.—G. strigosa, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 322. 
Hardly deserves varietal rank. 
Var. ramulosa, Kirk, l.c.—Branches stout, much branched, clothed with 
the bases of the old leaves. Panicles much divided; branches often long. 
Flowers crowded. Fruit not known. 
Var. albocarpa, Kirk, l.c.—Larger and stouter; rhizome sometimes as 
thick as a goose-quill. Leaves larger, sometimes 13in. diam. Panicles 3-6in., 
much branched; branches long. Fruit globose, white, tipped with the black 
calyx lobes. 
North and SoutH Isntanps, SreEwart Is~anp, CHaTHAM ISLANDS: 
Abundant in moist places from Mongonui southwards. Sea-level to 3500 ft. 
November—January. 
The chief distinguishing characters of this species are the broad reniform 
or orbicular-cordate leaves, very slender bisexual panicles, and minute globose 
drupe. But specimens possessing these characters differ from one another 
considerably in size, cutting of the leaves, size of the panicle and extent to 
which it is divided, and the size and colour of the fruit; and I suspect that 
a careful study of these forms in the field will result in the species being split 
up into two or more. 
2. G. microcarpa, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 
348.—Rhizomes slender, creeping. Leaves tufted, 2-4in. long; 
petiole slender, hairy or strigose ; blade about 1in. long, broadly 
ovate or ovate-cordate, obtuse, crenate or crenate-lobed, both sur- 
faces with scattered white hairs. Peduncles very slender, exceed- 
ing the leaves, 1-5 in. long, usually much branched below, rarely 
simple ; upper two-thirds or more male, lower one-third female. 
Male flowers sessile on the branches or very shortly pedicelled, 
each with 2 narrow concave deciduous bracts. Sepals 2, minute, 
linear. Stamens 2; filaments often as long as the small broadly 
oblong obtuse anthers. Female flowers: Calyx-lobes 2, minute. 
Styles very long and slender, filiform. Persistent fruiting portion 
of the peduncle shorter than the leaves, often inclined. Drupes 
small, sessile, ovoid-globose, red or yellow, about ;4,in. long.— 
Students’ Fl. 153. G. mixta, Kirk, Students’ Fl. 152. G. ovata, 
Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) 274 (in part). 
SoutH Isntanp: Otago and Southland, not uncommon, 7’. Waugh! Petrie! 
B. C. Aston! December—January. 
Mr. Kirk’s type specimens of G. microcarpa are in fruit only, and are few in 
number and otherwise imperfect. His G. mixta is based upon flowering speci- 
mens, to which the tall slender inflorescence gives a somewhat distinct appear- 
ance, althouzh the leaves are identical. But the fine series of specimens in all 
stages of flower and fruit preserved in Mr. Petrie’s herbarium prove beyond 
doubt that both are one and the same species. Its dist mguisbing characters are 
