402 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Key to the Genera. 



Sub-Family Campanuloideae : Flowers regular. Anthers 



usually free. Corolla bell-shaped, stamens free. Wahlenbergia, p. 402. 



Sub-Family Lobelioideae : Flowers irregular. Anthers 



united. 



1. Fruit, a coriaceous capsule, '2-valved at the top. Lobelia, p. 403. 

 Fruit a berry. 2 



2. A tall herb, with flowers in racemes, and large leaves. Colensoa, p. 404. 

 Small creeping plants with prostrate stems. iPratia. 



tNot further described. 



Genus Wahlenbergia. 



Erect or ascending, generally glabrous, milky herbs. Flowers terminal, 

 drooping in the bud, white or blue. Calyx-lobes 3-5 ; corolla bell-shaped, 

 5-lobed. Stamens 5, epigynous, with filaments dilated at the base. Ovary 2-5- 

 celled. Style simple, hairy at the top. Stigmas 2 or 3. (Named after a 

 Swedish botanist.) This genus largely takes the place in south temperate 

 regions of the North Temperate Cainpanula. 3 sp. 



Wahlenbergia gracilis (The Graceful Blue-bell). 



A slender annual. Stem 1 in. -24 in. high, angular, branches terminating in 

 slender 1-flowered peduncles. Leaves ^ in. -2 in. long, radical, spathulate, 

 petioled, toothed ; cauline sessile, linear oblong. Flowers variable in size and 

 form. Corolla ^ in. -J in. long ; blue, purplish, or white. Abundant throughout 

 the islands, up to 4000 ft. Fl. Oct.-Mar. 



W. saxicola has larger and more beautiful flowers, and is common in the 

 hilly and sub-alpine districts of Otago. 



W. gracilis is one of the commonest of flowers in dry 

 situations on open plains, and grassy hill-sides. It might be 

 described as the New Zealand blue-bell, except that the 

 application of the term to a flower, which is more often white 

 than blue, is scarcely appropriate. The colour, though 

 commonly a dingy white, varies in shade from white to deep 

 blue. In Tasmania and Australia, where the plant is also 

 abundant, the colour of the corolla is generally brighter than 

 in New Zealand specimens. W. cartilaginea is a curious 

 little sweet-scented mountain species, found in Nelson. The 

 coriaceous petioles, with cartilaginous margins, short stout 

 scapes, and low habit, are highly characteristic of an alpine 

 plant. 



