PLATE 113.—SENECIO CASSINIOIDES. 
Famity COMPOSIT 4. ] [Genus SENECIO, Linn. 
Senecio cassinioides, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 163; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 382. 
A good illustration of the wide range of characters: which separate the 
shrubby species of Senecio found in New Zealand is afforded by the two 
species figured in this plate and the previous one. Size, habit, foliage, 
indumentum, inflorescence, and colour of the flowers are totally different in the 
two plants, yet both are undoubted species of the genus. 
S. cassinioides was originally discovered by Dr. Sinclair at the Wairau 
Gorge, Nelson, in the year 1860. In the following summer he again gathered 
it in the Rangitata Valley, the district where, only a short time later, he lost 
his life in an imprudent attempt to ford the Rangitata River. During the 
next few years it was observed by Sir Julius von Haast in several localities on 
the eastern flanks of the Southern Alps, by Mr. Buchanan in Marlborough 
and in the Lake district of Otago, and by Mr. Petrie in the valleys of 
north and north-western Otago. More recently it has been collected in 
numerous intermediate localities, while its southern range has been considerably 
advanced through its discovery on Mount Franklin, Southland, by Mr. Crosby- 
Smith. So far as I am aware, however, it has never been collected on the 
western side of the South Island. 
My own acquaintance with S. cassinioides dates back to 1878, when I 
observed it in the Upper Wairau Valley, not far from Travers’s original 
locality. I have also seen it in the Upper Clarence Valley, and near Lake 
Tennyson ; on terraces by the Broken River and elsewhere in the Upper Waimakariri ; 
near Lake Tekapo; and in several localities in the Mount Cook district. Its 
altitudinal range appears to be from 2,000 ft. to 4,000 ft. Usually it forms a 
broad closely branched round-topped bush 4 ft. to 10 ft. high, and from its pale 
greenish-grey colour is readily picked out from the subalpine scrub with which it 
is commonly associated. Small specimens have a general resemblance to Cassimia 
Vauwvilliersiz, but the loose papery bark, more numerous branchlets, softer tomentum, 
and bright-yellow flowers distinguish it at a glance. 
Puate 113. Senecio cassinioides, drawn from specimens collected on terraces by the Broken 
River, Canterbury Alps, at an altitude of 2,500 ft. Fig. 1, tip of branchlet, showing leaves and a flower- 
head (x 2); 2, involucral bract (x 4); 3, ray-floret (x 6); 4, dise-floret (x 6); 5, pappus-hair (x 12) ; 
6, anthers (x 12); 7, style-branches (x 12). 
