PiateE 104.—RAOULIA HECTORI anp RAOULIA 
PETRIENSIS. 
Famity COMPOSIT.| [Genus RAOULIA, Hook. F. 
Raoulia Hectori, Hook. /. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 149; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 333. 
Raoulia Petriensis, 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix (1877), 549; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 334. 
R. Hectorc belongs to the section Imbricaria of the genus Raoulia, and to 
that group of it in which the inner involucral bracts are not furnished with 
conspicuous white radiating tips. It was originally discovered by Sir James 
Hector and Mr. Buchanan on the mountains of the Lake district of Otago 
in the early part of the year 1863, and was subsequently found in several 
other localities in the provincial district by both Mr. Buchanan and Mr. McKay. 
Mr. D. Petrie, who has so assiduously explored the alpine vegetation of Otago, 
has also gathered the plant, and remarks (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii (1896), 
562) that it was ‘“‘formerly common on all the high mountains of Central 
Otago, but is now rapidly dying off from the drying of the ground through 
burning and close cropping.” Mount St. Bathan’s, Old Man Range, the Hector 
Mountains, Mount Pisa, Ben Lomond, &c., are special localities mentioned by 
Mr. Petrie. In 1880 Mr. J. B. Armstrong recorded it from the Provincial 
District of Canterbury, but without mentioning any special locality. In 1883 
I gathered it in several stations on the Mount Dobson Range, to the east 
of Lake Tekapo, and in 1897 I again saw it in the same district. Its 
altitudinal range is from 4,000 ft. to 6,500 ft. 
On Mount Dobson R. Hectori is usually found on steep rocky slopes, 
where it forms dense flattened patches, often covering considerable areas. It 
differs much in habit from all the other members of the section IJmbricaria, 
and never shows any tendency to form the rounded cushion-like masses so 
characteristic of R. eximia, R. mammillaris, &c. I regard it as one of the 
most distinct species of the genus. 
Raoulia Petriensis is one of the many fine plants added to the flora of 
New Zealand by Mr. D. Petrie, who gathered it in 1877 on Mount St. 
Bathan’s and Mount Ida, in Central Otago. So far as I am aware, it has not 
been found elsewhere in Otago; but it has been collected by myself on the 
Mount Dobson Range, in southern Canterbury, where it is associated with 
R. Hectori, and where it descends as low as 3,500 ft., ascending to 5,500 ft. 
It has a very peculiar loosely tufted habit, with long slender branches, which 
are clothed throughout with laxly imbricating leaves, the tips of which are 
spreading or recurved. It thus presents a very different appearance from all 
its allies. 
Prater 1044. Raoulia Hectori, drawn from specimens collected on Mount Dobson, near Lake 
Tekapo, at an elevation of 5,000 ft. Fig. 1, tip of branch, with flower-head (x5); 2, leaf (x 10); 
3, involucral bract (x 10); 4, inner or hermaphrodite floret of the disc (x 10); 5, outer or female 
floret (x 10); 6, pappus-hair (x 15); 7, anthers (x 15); 8, style-branches (x 15). 
Prater 1048. Raoulia Petriensis, drawn from specimens collected in the same locality as the 
preceding. Fig. 9, tip of branch, with flower-head (x 3); 10, leaf (x 12); II, flower-head (x 5) ; 
12, outer floret of the disc (x 8); 13, inner disc-floret (x 8); 14, pappus-hair (x 15); 15, anthers 
(x 15); 16, style-branches (x 15). 
