PLATE 111.—SENECIO LYALLII, var. SCORZONERIOIDES. 
Famity COMPOSIT. } [Genus SENECIO, Linn. 
Senecio Lyallii, Hook. f. var. scorzonerioides, T. Kirk, Students’ Fl. 340; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
Fl. 372. 
Senecio (?) scorzonerioides, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i, 146. 
It would be difficult to select from the thirty-one or thirty-two species of Senecio 
found in New Zealand a more beautiful and charming plant than the subject of this 
plate. Any botanist who has penetrated into the innermost recesses of the Southern 
Alps, and has ascended to the open slopes, more or less clothed with subalpine vege- 
tation, that are met with at an elevation of about 3,000 f{t., cannot have failed to 
make its acquaimtance. In many localities every little watercourse and patch of 
moist ground is fringed with it; the shining green leaves and broad corymbs of 
flower-heads, varying in colour from pure white to pale salmon, rendering it con- 
spicuous from afar. And when it is associated, as is often the case, with other 
striking and noble plants, such as Ranunculus Lyallii, Ligusticum Haastii, Celmisia 
coriacea, Veronica macrantha, and Ourisia macrocarpa, the mountain-slopes become 
veritable gardens of floral beauty, not easily matched elsewhere, and when once 
seen not readily forgotten. 
As the name indicates, Senecio Lyalliv was originally discovered by Dr. Lyall, 
the surgeon-naturalist on H.M.S. “ Acheron,” which, under the command of Captain 
Stokes, was engaged from 1847 to 1851 in the survey of the coast-line of New Zea- 
land. The var. scorzonerioides, which I have selected for illustration, was collected 
in Dusky Bay, and was first treated by Sir J. D. Hooker as a separate species ; 
the typical form was obtained in Milford Sound. The two plants are evidently 
close allies; but the variety is readily distinguished by the broader and shorter 
leaves, much larger heads, and by the ray-florets being white or salmon, whereas 
they are yellow in the type. Many botanists will rank the two plants as distinct 
species. 
4 The two forms of S. Lyalliz have a very similar distribution, with the exception 
that var. scorzonerioides ascends to a much greater height on the mountains. Their 
northern limit, so far as I am aware, is on the mountains flanking the Wairau Valley, 
on the eastern side of the Nelson Provincial District, and the Mount Owen Range 
on the west. From these two localities the species ranges southwards through the 
mountain districts of Canterbury and Otago to Foveaux Strait and Stewart Island ; 
but is apparently most plentiful in the central and western portions of the Alps, 
or, In other words, within the influence of the western rainfall. Var. scorzonerioides 
ascends to over 6,000 ft. on the mountains of Nelson and Canterbury ; the typical 
form descends to sea-level in Stewart Island. 
S. Lyall, taking it in the wide sense, is a very distinct species. It is not closely 
allied to any other New Zealand plant; nor do I know any Australian or South 
American species to which it could be compared. Unfortunately, it is not often 
seen in cultivation ; but if grown in a suitable rock garden, with a little shade, and 
with abundant moisture and perfect drainage, there seems to be no reason why it 
should not succeed. 
Prate 111. Senecio Lyallii, var. scorzonerioides, drawn from specimens collected in the Hooker 
Valley, Mount Cook district, at an altitude of 4,000 ft. Fig. 1, involucral bract, showing the glandular 
pubescence (x 4); 2, lower portion of ray-floret (x 6); 3, pappus-hair (x 12); 4, disc-floret (x 6) ; 
5, anthers (x 10); 6, style-branches (x 10). 
