PLatE 314.—CHORDOSPARTIUM STEVENSONI. 
Famity LEGUMINOS/,] [Genus CHORDOSPARTIUM, Currsem. 
Chordospartium Stevensoni, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xliii (1911), 175. 
The beautiful plant figured in the accompanying plate is one of the most recent 
additions to the New Zealand flora, having been discovered by Mr. George Stevenson 
during the preparation of this work. According to him, it is sparingly found on the 
foothills of the seaward Kaikoura Mountains, near the mouth of the Clarence 
River, at an altitude of from 1,500 ft. to 2,500 ft. It was first described by myself 
in 1910, in the “ Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,” and is an exceedingly 
curious plant, in some respects connecting the genera Corallospartium, Carmichelia, 
and Notospartium. As I have elsewhere remarked, it agrees with the first in the 
short turgid subrhomboid 1-seeded pod, but differs altogether in habit, in the slender 
branchlets, and in the markedly different inflorescence. From the section Huttonella 
of Carmichelia it is separated by the same characters. It entirely corresponds 
with Notospartium in habit and inflorescence, and has probably been mistaken for 
that genus in the absence of fruit, which is entirely different. 
Although I consider that the characters of Chordospartium fully justify its 
erection into a separate genus, it must be confessed that the differences between 
it and Corallospartium are not of a very pronounced type. If, however, differences 
of habit, inflorescence, &c., are not considered sufficient to separate Corallospartium 
and Chordospartium, then, by parity of reasoning, similar characters of no greater 
importance cannot be used to distinguish both these groups from the section 
Huttonella of Carmichelia, and the three genera must merge into one. Some 
botanists may prefer this course, for it is very much a matter of taste and personal 
idiosyncrasy whichever view is adopted. 
I have to express my obligations to Mr. Stevenson for his kindness in forwarding 
an ample supply of both flowering and fruiting specimens. Most of these were 
obtained from a tree growing near his house, which he describes as a beautiful 
specimen, with a stem bare of branches for about 8 ft., above which “it is a perfect 
weeping model all round for quite 15 ft.” Its girth at about 2 ft. from the ground 
was 20in. The flowering season stretches from the middle of November to the 
end of December, and the fruit is ripe at the beginning of April. 
PuaTE 314. Chordospartium Stevensoni, drawn from specimens collected by Mr. George Stevenson 
near the mouth of the Clarence River. Fig. 1, flower (x 4); 2, calyx laid open, the petals being 
removed to show the stamens, &c. (x 8); 3, wing-petal (x6); 4, keel (x6); 5, ovary and style 
(x 8); 6, section of ovary (x 6); 7, ripe pod (x5); 8, section of same (x 5); 9, embryo, showing 
the double flexure of the radicle (enlarged). 
