Astelia.| LILIACEA. 711 
side of the midrib, or sometimes a prominent bundle of 2-3 placed 
close together; margins recurved; sheathing base clothed with long 
dense white silky hairs. Male flowers: Scape 1-3 ft. long, very 
slender at the base, stouter above, trigonous, shaggy throughout 
with silky white hairs, panicled above ; branches numerous, slender, 
often flexuous and interlaced ; bracts long, leafy. Flowers numer- 
ous, small, 4in. long, greenish-yellow or reddish-yellow or maroon. 
Perianth-segments lanceolate, acuminate, spreading or reflexed, the 
3 outer rather larger than the inner. Stamens about half as long 
as the segments; anthers small, broadly oblong. Female flowers: 
Scape shorter, with a smaller and more closely branched panicle, 
branches shorter and more erect. Flowers rather smaller ; 
segments not so spreading. Ovary ovoid-globose, 1-celled; ovules 
attached to 3 parietal placentas. Berry red, globose, }in. diam. 
Seeds linear-oblong, curved, terete, not angled.i—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 
283. A. polyneuron, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 333. 
(2)A. graminifolia, Col. l.c. xix. (1887) 267. Hamelinia veratroides, 
A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 158, t. 24, excl. fig. c. p. 
Var. Hookeriana, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. (1872) 244.—Smaller and 
more slender, seldom exceeding 3ft. Scape very slender; branches of male 
panicle seldom interlacing. Flowers rather smaller, claret-coloured. Berry 
nearly black, placentas very feebly developed. 
NortuH Istanp: Abundant in woods throughout. Sourn Isnanp: Nelson 
—Near Collingwood, Travers; Westport, Townson! Charlestown, Kirk! Sea- 
level to 2500ft. Kowharawhara. December—January ; ripe fruit November— 
December. Var. Hookeriana: Lava-fields on the Auckland Isthmus, Rangi- 
toto Island, Little Barrier Island, &c. April-June; ripe fruit May—June. 
Very near to A. Banksii in habit and general appearance, but widely differ- 
ing in the 1-celled ovary and small globose berry with terete seeds. I have 
quoted A. Richard’s Hamelinia veratroides as a synonym, his drawing of the 
female panicle exactly corresponding; but the section of the ovary given is that 
of A. Banksii, probably through some confusion of specimens. 
3. A. Banksii, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 296.—A large densely 
tufted terrestrial or rupestral species. Leaves very numerous, 
closely packed, erect, 2-6 ft. long, 4-l4in. broad at the middle, 
narrow-linear, tapering into a long acuminate point, narrowed below 
and then gradually expanded into a broad sheathing base, glabrous 
or slightly scurfy above, clothed with a thin silvery pellicle beneath, 
with 3-6 distinct and equally prominent nerves on each side of 
the midrib; margins recurved; sheathing base most densely 
clothed with long soft silky hairs. Male flowers: Scape slender at 
the base, stouter above, trigonous, excessively shaggy with dense 
white silky hairs, panicled; branches numerous, slender, often 
flexuous, 4-9in. long; bracts at the base leafy, with long slender 
points. Flowers many, about +in. long; perianth-segments ovate- 
lanceolate, acuminate, spreading, the 3 outer larger than the 
inner. Stamens shorter than the segments; filaments subulate ; 
