Plate 194.— PRASOPHYLLUM PUMILUM and 

 PTEROSTYLIS TRULLI FOLIA. 



Family ORCHIDACE^.] [Genera PRASOPHYLLUM, R. Br., and 



PTEROSTYLIS, R. Br. 



Prasophyllum pumilum, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i, 242 ; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 675. 



Pterostylis trullifolia, Ilo,,!.: Fl. AV»\ Zel. i. 24'.l : Cheescin. Man. N.Z. Fl. 682. 



Prasophyllvm juimilinn was originally discovered by Mr. J. Edgerley, a 

 gentleman of considerable scientific attainments, who collected plants in the 

 northern portion of New Zealand in the years 1841-42, and who forwarded 

 his specimens to Sir W. J. Hooker at Kew. I do not know the exact statioji 

 in which Mr. Edgerley obtained the species, but as his travels were confined 

 to the district ])et\veen the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Islands it must 

 have been somewhere within those limits. A little later it was gathered by 

 Mr. Colenso, probably at the Bav of Islands; and, according to the "Hand- 

 book," it was collected in the vicinity of Auckland by Dr Sinclair. Its 

 southern limit, so far as I am aware, is on the Leptosper mum -clad hills 

 between Rangiriri and the Whangamarino River, where I observed it many 

 years ago. Both Mr. Kirk and myself have gathered it in several stations 

 near Auckland, although (as in all its localities) in small quantity. I have 

 also collected it at Coromandel, in several stations between Helensville and 

 Port Albert, at Whangarei, at the Bay of Islands, and at Mongonui. 

 Mr. R. H. Matthews and Mr. Carse have both found it to be " not uncommon " 

 near Kaitaia, and Mr. Kirk has recorded it from the tract of country between 

 Parengarenga and the North Cape. It is ])urely n heath-plant, and I have 

 never seen it except on the comparatively bare clay hills which are so frequent 

 in the North Auckland Peninsula, and which, from the auantitv of kauri - 

 resin that has been dug from them, are locally known as " gum-lands." 

 The vegetation on these hills is mainly composed of stunted Lc/ifospermi/m 

 scnparhim, mixed with varving proportions of Pomaderris plujUccp folia and 

 P. elUvtica (and less commonly P. Edqerleyi), Levcopoaon fasciculatus, Draco- 

 phyllum TJrmUeanum. and other shrubs, together with some sedges, Pteris 

 aqvilina, and several small herbaceous plants. It is in open places of perhaps 

 a yard or so in extent, often covered with Campylopvs and other mosses, that 

 the Prasophyllum is usually found. 



Prasovhylhnri mimihnn belongs to an altogether different section of the 

 genus to that which includes P. Colen^oi, figured in the previous plate, and 

 which bears the name of Genoplpsivm. In it the lip is articulated on to a 

 flat ribband-like projection from the base of the column, and is more or less 

 mobile. Its nearest allv, according to Hooker, is the Tasmanian P. despectans, 

 with which I am not acquainted; but it is also comparatively close to the 

 New Zealand plant which I have for the pi-esent referred to the Australian 

 P. rufum, but which differs from P. pvmilvm in the horizontal (not deflexed) 

 flowers, in the narroAver lip and lateral sepals, the latter being tipped by a 

 minute gland, and in the narrower lateral lobes of the column. 



Pterostylis trnllifolia is another of the discoveries mad° bv Mr. J. 

 Edgerley, having been collected bv him at the Bav of Islands in 1841. About 

 the same time, or very shortly afterwards, it was gathered bv Mr. Colenso in 



