PLATE 110.—ERECHTITES GLABRESCENS. 
Famity COMPOSIT. | [GENUS ERECH TITES, Rar. 
Erechtites glabrescens, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix (1878), 550; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
Erechtites glabrescens was discovered by Mr. W. T. L. Travers in the Wairau 
Valley, Nelson, prior to 1872 ; but was not described as a distinct species until 1876, 
when Mr. T. Kirk conferred upon it the name it now bears. In the meantime it had 
been observed by Mr. Kirk himself at Lake Rotoiti, Nelson, and by Mr. G. M. Thomson 
in several localities in Otago. Further inquiry has shown that it has a tolerably 
wide range, usually in mountain-forests or in scrub. In the North Island it has 
been gathered by Mr. Petrie in the Upper Rangitikei, and by Dr. C ockayne and 
myself on the central volcanic plateau; and it will probably yet be discovered in 
the mountain - woods flanking the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges. In the South 
Island it is found in most mountain-forests from Nelson to Foveaux Strait. It 
attains its southern limit in Stewart Island, where it descends to sea-level, as it 
also does in the south of Otago. In the North Island and in the Nelson mountains 
it ascends to quite 4,500 ft. 
L. glabrescens can, be distinguished without much difficulty from the other 
species found in New Zealand. Its habit is more slender, and it is almost entirely 
glabrous. The leaves are more membrancus, and vary excessively in size and in the 
extent to which they are cut or divided. Occasionally all the leaves are coarsely 
and irregularly sinuate-dentate, but more generally the lower ones are pinnate 
with a large terminal leaflet and with few or many smaller lateral ones. The under- 
surface is frequently of a pucplish colour. The heads are almost or entirely glabrous, 
the involucral bracts bemg greenish with pale margins. The achenes are longer 
than in any other New Zealand species, and are quite glabrous. 
Prate 110. Erechtites glabrescens, drawn from specimens collected in the Mount Cook district, 
at an altitude of 2,500 ft. Fig. 1, flower-head (x 4); 2, section of receptacle (x 4); 3, outer or female 
floret (x 6); 4, inner or hermaphrodite floret (x 6); 5, pappus-hair (x 10); 6, anthers (6<al0) 
7, style-branches (x 10). 
