E 
Liliacee.] FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 259 
referred at random to Banks and Solander’s drawings and notes, substituting names of his own for theirs. The 
species with one-celled ovaries and parietal placentc cannot be generically separated from those with three cells and 
axile placentee ; it is indeed sufficiently difficult to distinguish A. Cunninghamii specifically from 4. Banksii without 
a careful dissection of the ovary, as in the former the placentee project considerably, but do not meet in the axis. 
Were it not however for the 4. Cunninghamii on the one hand, and the Fuegian A. pumila on the other, the one- 
celled small species (4. linearis and alpina of Tasmania) would be conveniently and naturally separated generically, 
these being alpine and marsh plants, with very few-flowered panicles, one-celled ovaries and parietal placente, and 
terete seeds; but .4. Cunninghamii has the same characters of the fruit, with a branched habit and epiphytic mode 
of growth, whilst the Fuegian 4. pumila has the habit of A. linearis and 4. alpina, with a three-celled fruit.— 
Flowers silky or chaffy, in branched, leafy, or bracteate racemes or panicles. Female Panicles with the branches 
shorter, stouter, and rarely divided. Perianth of the male flower campanulate or rotate, deeply six-lobed ; of the 
female rotate or urceolate, sometimes surrounding the fruit. Stamens six, rudimentary in the female flowers; fila- 
ments subulate or filiform; anthers linear or broad. Pollen elliptical. Berry globose or ovoid, with a short style 
and three-lobed stigma, generally full of transparent gluten, which exudes from delicate long jointless tubes, that 
proceed in fasses from the placenta, and often cover the umbilical cord also*. (Name from aoreheyos, wanting a 
stem or trunk.) 
§ a. Perianth of the female flower not enlarged nor enclosing the ripe fruit. Berry unilocular. Seeds terete. 
1. Astelia Cunninghamii, Hook. fil.; foliis elongatis subulatis multinerviis utringue sericeis glabra- 
tisve, paniculis sericeo-villosis, masc. effusis, ramis elongatis, perianthii glabrati laciniis subulato-lanceolatis, 
antheris late oblongis, fem. panicula subcoarctata, ramis brevioribus, ovario globoso 1-loculari, placentis 
parietalibus, stigmate sessili 3-lobo, bacca globosa perianthio persistente suffulta, seminibus 6-8 placentis 
parietalibus versus apicem loculi pendulis curvis lineari-clavatis teretibus atris. 
Has. Throughout the Northern Island, common, usually on limbs of trees, Cunningham, etc. Nat. 
name, * Kowhara-whara,” Col. 
This species very closely resembles 4. Banksii, with which it is confounded in Cunningham's herbarium, 
but from which it differs in the larger male flowers, globose one-celled ovary with a short style and parietal 
ovules, much smaller globular fruit (about i inch diameter), and linear, terete, curved seeds. Leaves 2-5 feet 
long, variable in breath (4-1 inch) plaited, silky on both surfaces, or silvery and glabrous, sometimes villous. 
Peduncle of male flowers 1-12 foot long, angled, flexuose, shaggy with silky wool (tawny when dry), branches scat- 
tered, alternate, 8-12 inches long. Flowers numerous, one to three together. Perianth rotate, + inch across; 
segments acuminate (red-brown when dry). Peduncle of female flowers a foot long, branches crowded, 3-8 inches 
long. lowers crowded; perianth like that of the males. Ovary globose, with a short style. Ovules from the 
upper part of three parietal placentze ; cavity of the ovary full of a gluten formed by a multitude of jointless tubes 
or hairs of excessive delicacy that project from the funiculi and placente, and breaking up exude a transparent glue 
(this character is common to several other species). Seeds linear, terete, narrower towards the funiculus, curved ; 
testa thick, black, shining; embryo small, conical; at germination the embryo pushing forward breaks away the 
apex of the seed opposite to it, which falls off like a little black lid: in doing this it is aided by the expanding force 
of the swelling albumen.—I have what may be another species, closely allied to this, with larger panicle and flowers, 
the female panicle effuse and like the male, and its branches divided, and the half-ripe ovaria larger; but my 
specimens are insufficient to describe it, and I rather think it only a large specimen of 4. Cunninghamii, with 
possibly moncecious inflorescence: it was found near the Bay of Islands by Cunningham. 
* These tubes are similar to those which proceed, from the moistened surface of Garden Cress (and other Cru- 
ciferous) sceds, and from the achenia of some Composite. Similar tubes are commonly seen in the fruit of some 
epiphytical tribes of Orchidee (as Vandee), where they also originate from the placentee, but do not become a 
glutinous mass. They possibly aid in the fertilization of the ovules, 
