PLATE 71.—PANAX LINEARE. 
Famity ARALIACE/..] [Genus PANAX, Linn. 
Panax lineare, Hook. {. Fl. Nov. Zel. i, 93; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 228. 
For the discovery of Panax lineare we are indebted to Dr. Lyall, the surgeon- 
naturalist to H.M.S. ‘ Acheron,” who in 1848 collected it in Chalky Bay, on 
the south-west coast of Otago. His specimens—only two in number—were 
forwarded to Sir J. D. Hooker, and were described by him in the “ Flora 
Nove Zelandiz ” (vol. i, p. 93); but as Lyall only obtained the female flowers, 
and did not notice ier very different foliage of the young plants, the account 
given was necessarily imperfect. In 1863 Sir James Hector and Mr. Buchanan 
sathered it in Dusky Sound; but it was not until 1876, when it was found by 
Mr. J. D. Enys and Mr. T. Kirk in the Upper Waimakariri, Bealey Gorge, and 
adjacent districts, that flowers of both sexes were obtained, and a series of 
specimens collected showing the remarkable changes the foliage passes through 
during the growth and development of the plant. In 1881 I observed it in 
great abundance on the Mount Arthur Plateau, Nelson, and in the upper part 
of the Takaka Valley. Since then it has been observed in many of the sub- 
alpine forests along the central chain of the Southern Alps, especially on the 
western side, the most southern locality known to me being Preservation Inlet. 
It reaches an altitude of over 4,000 ft. in north-west Nelson, but descends to 
1,500 ft. or lower on the coastal ranges near Westport. In the Sounds of the 
south-west coast of Otago it probably comes down to sea-level. 
A reference to the “plate will show that the foliage of the young: seedling is 
very narrow-linear, and from 2in. to 3 in. in length by about +in. in breadth. 
As the plant increases in size the leaves also increase in length, so that a 
young tree 4{t. or 5{t. in height frequently has leaves 10in. in length by #in. 
in width. In older stages the leaves gradually become shorter, so that in 
flowering examples they are frequently less than 2in. long, with a breadth of 
from din. to fin. The leaf-change through which the species passes thus resembles 
that of Pseudopanax crassifolium var. unifoliolatum, but is not so conspicuous, 
and the leaves of the young plant are never deflexed, as they usually are in 
one of the stages of P. crassifoliwm. 
But for the long recurved styles, and ovary usually (but not always) with 
less than 5 cells, P. lineare might be referred to Pseudopanax, with the simple- 
leaved species of which it certainly has some affinity. Pseudopanax crassifolium, 
P. ferox, and P. chathamicum, together with Panax lineare, would form a very 
natural group, considered from the point of view of the leaf-changes which take 
place between the seedling and adult plant. 
Pirate 71. Panax lineare, adult in the flowering stage, together with examples showing the changes 
of leaf-form between the seedling and the mature plant ; the whole of the caveat ae collected 
by Mx. F. G. Gibbs in the Cobb Valley, north-west Nelson. Fig. 1, tip of leaf (x 4); 2, flower-bud, 
showing 4 petals (x 4); 3, male flower, showing 5 petals (x 4); 4 and 5, back and front view 
of stamens (x 6); 6, female flower (x 4); 7, female flower, with two of the siotals removed, showing 
the styles (x 6); 8, ete ee section of ovary (x 6); 9, female flower, with three styles, the petals 
removed (x 6). 
