Pi.ATK 140.— GENTIAXA BKLIJDIKOLIA. 



Family (JKNTIANACE.fl | ^(.,^^, (jenTJANA, J.in^. 



Gentiana bellidifolia, Hook. /. iv Hook, h: Phxnl. t. G35 ; V.Jwesem. Man. N.Z. VI. 452. 



Under Plates 114 {Senecio BidwiJU,), 127 {Ejiaori>^ dpin,^, and 131 

 {Dracofhyllum recurvum) I have figured some well-known subalpine plant dis 

 covered by Mr. J C Bidwill in his adventurous expedition to theTentral vo can c' 

 plateau of the North Island in 1839. The present plate represents another of h 

 discoveries, and by no means the least interesting. Like the three others it was 

 collected on or near the slopes of Ngauruhoe, which he was the first Euop an to 

 ascend. Mr. Colenso in his first ascent of the Ruahine Mountains in 1845 w!s 

 the next to gather the plant; and since then it has been observed by all vi itors 

 to he higher mountains of both the North and the South Islands. Its northern 

 limit is mi Mount Hikurangi, in the East Cape district, from whence it extends 



G. beimfolm was originally published under its present name by Sir J D 

 wS 11 fl w 7T P^*^™"^" (*• 635). The plate represents a^small state 

 with single-fiowered branclaes, but otherwise is an excellent representation of the 

 species. In the "Flora Nova. Zelandi* " Hooker reduced all the New Zealand 



ForstlTr T' "^ '^/"^"^ ^^"""^ '""^y *^^ ^-kland Islands species to 



SnA Jr'!T ""1'^ (^-.^(^^osa, placing G. heUtdifoUa under the latter. 



12g :Z^^" Flora Austrahensis," went still further, merging both G. montana 

 ^na (r saxom and this c'ourse was also adopted by Baron Mueller. No doubt 

 the fact that Hooker and Bentham were dealing sol/ly with dried specimens will 

 toTee w[th T^h T h' r'^ fif^ botanist in New Zealand finds hLself unab 

 to agree with That Hooker would have acted differently had he actually seen the 



y^eVZl U /t', T^'T T^ ^^ "^^™^ f™^ *^« f-«* that'^when he 

 vu,ited the Auckland Islands, where he was able to observe and draw the species 

 on the spot, he recognized the distinctness of G. oenna and G. concinna, whic5i are 

 much nearer together, and much more closely allied to the true G. saxosa than most 

 of the forms placed by him under that plant. It was not until 1895, when Mr Kirk 

 ?L^ li . ' Revision of the New Zealand Gentians " (Trans. N.Z. Inst, xxvii (1895) 

 330 that an attempt was made to separate some of the numerous species which 

 until then had been huddled together. 



r;.«<.a«a 6e//^«/y;Ma which^I have had frequent opportunities of observing 

 both in the North and South Islands, is a small perennial herb with numerou^J 



of"Sl';i'?''l '*'"f ^'Tu\^'''- ^'f^'^ ^'^^ i^^^^^^^^ at the base with rosettes 

 of spathulate leaves of a dull brownish-green colour. The flowers are terminal 

 solitary or m 2-6-flowered cymes, and large for the size of the plant, being 

 somei,imes near y an inch m diameter. In colour they are generally white, 

 but are frequently furnished with slender purple lines. As a species it is nearest 

 to my G. 'patula, but that plant is ordinarily much taller, with longer leaves 

 and t^e flowers are much more numerous. G.divisa differs in being excessively 

 branched from the root, thus forming hemispherical masses 2 in. to 6 in. in diameter 



til t:X Xd!' "^'' ''^'"■■^- ''^^ ""^"""^ ^P^^^^'^ ^° -^ ^Pl--- '^^ be 

 Plate 140. Geniiana hellidifoUa, drawu from specimens colleek'd bv Mr. 11 Hill on Mie Rn-.lii.u. 



