Plate 208.-LEPYROD1A TRAVERSIT. 



Family RESTIACE.E.] [Genus LEPYRODIA, R. Br. 



Lepyrodia Traversii, F. Muell. Fnir/ni. viii, 79 ; Cheeseni. Man. N.Z. Fl. 760. 



Dr. DiefEenbach, the naturalist to the New Zealand Company, and the author 

 of the well-known " Travels in New Zealand," visited the Chatham Islands in 1840, 

 and formed a small collection of plants, which for many years comprised all that 

 was known to science of the vegetation of that then seldom- visited outher of the 

 Dominion. Included in the collection were barren specimens of a Restiaceous plant 

 which Sir J. D. Hooker, in the " Flora Novae Zelandise " and again in the " Handbook," 

 referred to as a doubtful species of Calorophus. Curiously enough, Mr. H. H. Travers, 

 in his first expedition to the Chatham Islands, does not seem to have observed the 

 plant ; but during a subsequent visit he obtained specimens which Baron Mueller 

 in the first instance described under the name of Lepyrodia Traversii, but ultimately 

 erected into a new genus which he called Sporadanthus. According to Mueller, 

 Sporadanthus differs from Lepyrodia in the nucular 1-celled fruit ; but Hooker and 

 Bentham, in the " Genera Plantarum," have replaced it in Lepyrodia. 



Lepyrodia Traversii is a common plant in peat bogs in the Chatham Islands. 

 Dr. Cockayne, in his valuable memoir, " On the Plant Covering of the Chatham Islands " 

 (Trans. N.Z. Inst, xxxiv (1902), p. 285), gives a lengthy account of a plant association 

 which he calls the " Lepyrodia-Olearia bog " in which the vegetation is largely com- 

 posed of the Lepyrodia, together with Olearia semidentata and Dracophyllum paludosum 

 {D. scoparium, var.), and speculates on the probability of this association having 

 once occupied even more extensive areas than is now the case. Nor is L. Traversii 

 confined to the Chatham Islands. In January, 1879, I observed it in great abundance 

 in the extensive peat bog between Hamilton and Ohaupo, in the Middle Waikato 

 district, a locaUty where it is still plentiful, although somewhat thinned by fires and 

 drainage operations. And as recently as 1906 Mr. R. H. Matthews observed it in 

 the large stretch of peaty country lying between Lake Tongonge and the sea. 



I have already remarked that in the " Genera Plantarum " Hooker and Bentham 

 reduced Sporadanthus to Lepyrodia. They point out that in habit it is evidently 

 very close to the Australian L. scariosa, R. Br., and hint that the fruit is 1-celled 

 and 1 -seeded by abortion. At that time fruiting specimens were alone known ; but 

 since then, through the kindness of Mr. Calhoun, of Ohaupo, I have received numerous 

 fine specimens in all stages of flower and fruit, from which the accompanying plate 

 has been prepared. After a careful examination of young flowers, I have been unable 

 to find any trace of the ovary being 3-celled, nor does the ovary ever contain more 

 than a single ovule. And the style is invariably single, with a decurrent stigma 

 along one side. Under these circumstances, I am inclined to think that Mueller was 

 justified in creating a new genus for the plant, and that we shall ultimately have to 

 revert to his generic name of Sporadanthus. 



Plate 208. Lepyrodia Traversii, drawn from specimens gathered by Mr. Calliomi in the extensive 

 peat bog stretching from Hamilton to Ohaupo, Waikato. Fig. 1, portion of inflorescence, with two 

 male flowers (x 5) ; 2, male flower (x 8) ; 3, jieriantli-segment and stamen (x 10) ; 4, stamens and 

 rudimentary ovary (x 10) ; 5, female flower (x 8) ; 6, ovary with rudimentary stamens at the base 

 (x 12) ; 7, longitudinal section of ovary (x 12) ; 8, transverse section of ovary (x 12) ; 9, ovule (x 12) ; 

 10, ripe fruit (enlarged) ; 11, longitudinal section of fruit (enlarged) ; 12, seed (enlarged). 



