Sonchus. | COMPOSIT2. 389 
blunt points, the outer with a row of short spines down the median 
line. Florets numerous, purplish. Achenes large, broad, spongy, 
with 3-6 longitudinal ribs; margins broad.—Students’ Fl. 362. 
CuatHam Istanps: Enys! Cox! January—February. 
A very handsome and distinct species, endemic in the Chatham Islands. 
OrprerR XXXIX. STYLIDIEA. 
Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leaves alternate, scattered or 
densely imbricate, entire; stipules wanting. Flowers hermaphro- 
dite or unisexual, irregular or almost regular. Calyx adnate to the 
ovary; lobes usually 5, free or connate into two lips. Corolla 
gamopetalous, d-lobed ; the lobes subregular and equal in the New 
Zealand genera, but in the bulk of the order the lowest lobe is 
smaller and narrower and recurved, and is known as the labellum. 
Stamens 2; filaments united with the style into a column; anthers 
sessile at the top of the column. Ovary inferior, more or less com- 
pletely 2-celled, usually crowned with 1 or 2 fleshy glands. Stigma 
at the apex of the column, entire or 2-lobed, hidden between the 
anthers or protruding from between them. Ovules numerous in 
each cell, attached to the dissepiment or to a central axis, anatro- 
pous. Fruit a 1—2-celled capsule, dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds 
numerous or few by abortion, minute; albumen fleshy ; embryo 
very minute, next the hilum. 
A small order, comprising 5 genera and about 110 species, mainly confined 
to Australia, 97 species being endemic therein. Of the 3 New Zealand genera, 
Oreostylidiwm is endemic; Phyllachne extends to antarctic South America; 
while Horstera has a single species in Tasmania in addition to the 3 New Zea- 
land ones. 
A. Stems densely matted, forming hard bright-green convex patches. Capsule 
turbinate. 
Leaves densely imbricated. Flowers sessile among the 
leaves at the tips of the branches 5c ae .. 1. PHYLLACHNE. 
B. Stems not forming compact patches. Capsule ovoid or oblong, 
Stems short. Leaves tufted, squarrose, subulate. Scapes 
shorter than the leaves. Calyx 2-lipped si as 
Stems slender, branched. Scapeslong. Calyx 5-6-lobed, 
not bilabiate Ms ae . 
2. OREOSTYLIDIUM. 
3. FORSTERA. 
1. PHYLLACHNE, Forst. 
Densely tufted perfectly glabrous moss-like plants, forming hard 
and compact flat or convex masses in alpine localities. Leaves 
small, closely imbricating. Flowers sessile among the leaves 
at the tips of the branches, monecious or polygamo-diccious. 
Calyx-tube obconic ; lobes 5-9, equal or slightly unequal. Corolla 
almost regular; tube short; limb spreading, with 4-9 subequal 
