PLATE 51.—EPILOBIUM PALLIDIFLORUM. 
FAMILY ONAGRACE/. | [GENUS KPILOBIUM, LINN. 
Epilobium pallidiflorum, Sol. ex A. Cunn. Precur. n. 550; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 173. 
The genus Hpilobium is remarkably well represented in New Zealand, about 
thirty species being known. In whatever country the genus may exist, its species 
for the most part present an extraordinary amount of variation. In the Northern 
Hemisphere this has resulted in the creation of a multiplicity of so-called 
“species ” differing only in shght and inconstant characters, and so closely linked 
to one another as to make their discrimination a matter of great difficulty, even 
those experts who have studied the genus being far from agreement. In New 
Zealand the species are equally variable, but so far they have been treated on 
fairly conservative lines, and but few attempts have been made to follow the 
practice of the northern botanists. In the subject of the present plate, however, 
we have a species possessing such strongly marked characters that there can be 
no difficulty in separating it from any of its allies. 
Epilobium pallidiflorum was one of the many plants observed during Cook’s 
first visit to New Zealand in 1769. It was originally collected by Banks and 
Solander in Mercury Bay (or Opuragi, as Cook called it), and was described by 
Solander in his manuscripts under the name it now bears. The species, however, 
was not actually published until 1839, when it appeared in Allan Cunningham’s 
“ Precursor.’ Since its original discovery it has been found to have a wide range 
in marshy places, along the banks of rivers, &c., and is now known to be plentiful 
in such localities from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Its southern limit is 
in Stewart Island, where it has been recently detected by Dr. Cockayne. It is 
purely a lowland plant, and I have not seen it at a greater elevation than 1,500 ft. 
It also occurs in Victoria and South Australia, and is abundant in Tasmania. 
As already remarked, Epdobium pallidiflorum is a remarkably distinct species. 
It can be recognized at a glance by its great size—I have seen specimens quite 4 ft. 
in height—by its long acute leaves, and by its large white flowers. It is a great 
ornament in the swamps of the Lower Waikato district, where it grows in the 
utmost luxuriance along the banks of the streams which flow through the swamps, 
mixed with such plants as Phormiwm, Calystegia sepium, and various sedges. 
Prate 51. Epilobium pallidiflorwm, drawn from specimens collected at St. John’s Lake, near 
Auckland. Fig. 1, flower (x 2); 2, flower with ovary and bract (x24); 3 and 4, anthers, front 
and back view (x5); 5, stigma (x5); 6, ripe capsule (x 2); 7, seed (x 8). 
