PLATE 52.—EPILOBIUM ROTUNDIFOLIUM. 
Famity ONAGRACE/.|] [Genus EPILOBIUM, Linn. 
Epilobium rotundifolium, Forst. Prodr. n. 161; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 179. 
As in the case of the preceding species, for the discovery of this plant we have 
to go back as far as the time of Cook’s first voyage, when it was collected by Banks 
and Solander in Queen Charlotte Sound. Although fully described in Solander’s 
manuscript “ Primitiz Flore Novee Zelandie” the species was never published 
by him; and Forster, who collected it in the same locality durmg Cook’s second 
voyage, selected the name it still bears when describing it in his ‘* Prodromus.” 
His diagnosis, like all those given in the “ Prodromus,” is very short and 
insufficient ; but a more complete description, taken from his manuscripts, appeared 
in A. Richard’s excellent ‘‘ Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande.” Since then it has been 
observed by almost all those who have interested themselves with New Zealand 
plants, and is now known to be distributed in moist shaded localities throughout 
almost the whole of the Dominion, from the North Cape to Stewart Island, and 
from sea-level to nearly 3,000 ft. altitude. 
E. rotundifolium is found in a great variety of situations. It is often seen 
creeping over bare ground in somewhat open forest, especially where the soil is 
naturally damp ; it is common on moist shaded banks down which water trickles, 
and it is quite at home in mossy places by the side of waterfalls or on the shelving 
sides of streams. Of late years it has taken possession of the sides of many railway 
cuttings, where shaded from the sun and where the soil is sufficiently damp. 
As a species EF. rotundifolium is perhaps most closely allied to E. linneoides. 
But it is larger, and has a more erect habit of growth; the upper leaves are 
alternate, and the inflorescence is terminal. In the “ Handbook” Sir J. D. Hooker 
grouped it with the plants now known as E£. chlorefoliwum and E. imsulare, the 
specific distinctness of which is now generally recognized. The first can always 
be distinguished by the much more erect and firmer habit, and by the ovate or 
ovate-cordate nearly sessile leaves; while the latter has weaker and more 
elongated stems, with more distant sessile leaves, and the seeds are perfectly smooth. 
It has also been compared with EH. alsinoides, but in reality there is little 
relationship between the two plants. E. alsinoides is much smaller, the leaves are 
smaller, paler, and more uniform in shape, the flowers are smaller and on longer 
peduncles, and the capsules are evenly covered with a close and fine pubescence. 
Puate 52. Epilobvum rotundifolium, drawn from specimens collected near Mercer, in the Waikato 
district. Fig. 1, flower, with its subtending leaf or bract (x3); 2, flower (x3); 3, petal (x 6) ; 
4 and 5, front and back view of anthers (x6); 6, stigma (x6); 7, ripe capsule (x 2); 8, seed 
(enlarged). 
