Platk 124. -CYATHODES ACE ROSA. 



Family EPACRIDACE^.] [Genus CYATHODES, Labill. 



Cyathodes acerosa, /?. Br. Prodr. 539: Honk. /. Fl. Nor. Zrl. i. Ifi.'}- C/ieesew Man NZ 

 Fl. U\. 



The subject of this plate was originally gathered by >Sir Joseph Banks and 

 Dr. Solander at " Opuragi " (Mercury Bay) during Cook's first visit to New Zealand 

 in the year 1769. A few months later it was also observed in Queen Charlotte Sound. 

 Dr. Solander, in his manuscript " Primitiae Florae Nov* Zelandia^," which, to 

 the great loss of botanical science, was never actually published, described it under 

 the name of Stiphelia acerosa, and a beautiful plate of the plant was prepared under 

 his superintendence. Solander's specific name was adopted by Gaertner in his work 

 " De Fructibus," and also by Robert Brown in his well-known " Prodromus," the 

 latter botanist transferring the plant to the genus Cyathodes. Since Cook's time 

 it has been observed by all investigators of the botany of New Zealand, and is 

 now known to be generally distributed throughout the whole length of the country, 

 from the North Cape to Stewart Island. Although often abundant on coastal 

 cliffs, it is plentiful inland, and ascends the mountains to a height of not much under 

 3,000 ft. It is also found in Tasmania and on certain portions of the coast- 

 line of Victoria, but apparently is not so plentiful as in New Zealand. 



Cyathodes acerosa usually forms a closely branched shrub from 6ft. to 12ft. in 

 height. Occasionally it reaches a stature of 15 ft. or 16 ft., and some forms 

 with a procumbent mode of growth do not rise much more than 2 ft. or 3 ft. 

 from the ground. The branches are hard and woody, and are clothed with 

 numerous rigid and spreading narrow-linear pungent-pointed leaves. The flowers, 

 which are often abundantly produced, are very minute, and of a pale whitish-green 

 colour. The berries, which persist for a long time, are about the size of a pea, and 

 may be either white or red. It is an easy plant to cultivate, and succeeds in any 

 ordinary garden-soil. 



The nearest ally of C. acerosa is doubtless the Chatham Islands C. rohusta, which 

 differs mainly in the larger and broader leaves, which are not pungent-pointed, 

 but end in a callous tip, and in the rather larger fruit. The Tasmanian C. abietina 

 and C. divaricata are also related ; but the first is a much smaller plant with 

 broader leaves, and the second has smaller leaves, and a corolla bearded within. 



In the arrangement of the Epacridacew given in " Die Naturlichen Pflanzen- 

 familien " (teil iv, abt. i, p. 76) Dr. O. Drude has followed the late Baron Mueller 

 in merging Cyathodes, Leucopogon, and numerous other genera with Styphelia ; 

 and Dr. Cockayne in his publications has accordingly transferred the New Zealand 

 species of Cyathodes and Leucopogon to that genus. To my mind, however, the 

 remarks published by Mr. Bentham in the " Flora Australiensis " (vol. iv, p. 145) 

 show very clearly that nothing is gained by such a course, while it necessarily leads 

 to much confusion. It must be borne in mind, too, that both Mueller and Drude 

 still keep up the genera as sections of Styphelia, which is practically the same 

 arrangement mider another name. Nor does it seem that recent workers in the 

 family maintain the proposed change. Dr. Diels, for instance, in his " Fragmenta 

 Phytographiae Australiae OccidentaHs," retains the genera Cyathodes, Leucopogon, 

 &c., very much as limited by Bentham. 



Plate 124. Cyathodes acerosa, drawn from specimens collected in the vicinity of Auckland. 

 Fig. 1, branchlet with flower, showing the imbricated bracts on the peduncle (x 3) ; 2, flower (x 7) ; 

 3, flower, with the corolla and a portion of the calyx removed (x 7) ; 4, corolla laid open (x 7) ; 

 5 and 6, front and back view of anther ( x 10) ; 7, longitudinal section of ovary ( x 9) ; 8, transverse 

 section of ovary ( x 8) ; 9, fruit ( x 3) ; 10, section of fruit ( x 3). 



