TASMANIAN ONAGRACEAE. 

 (PLATES v., VI.) 



By L. RobwAY, Government Botanist. 



(Read 14th June, 1909.) 



We have in Tasmania representatives of only two- 

 genera belonging to this family, Oenothera and Epilo- 

 bium. Of the first genus we have only one species. It 

 is a small herib of very restricted distribution, and was 

 described by Sir J. D. Hooker in the Flora Tasmaniae. 

 It was gathered by R. Gunn in marshy land about Marl- 

 borough in 1841, and does not appear to have been re- 

 corded since till the early part of this year, when it was 

 found by G. Weindorfer and Dr. Sutton in the vicinity 

 of Middlesex Plains. It is confined to the western por- 

 tion of Tasmania, and neither it nor any other native 

 member of the genus has yet been recorded from Aus- 

 tralia or New Zealand. Bentham considered this species 

 to be very close to, if not identical with, O. dentata, 

 Cav., which is a native of Western America, extending 

 from South Chili to California. 



Our plant does not recall the idea of an Oenothera,, 

 as the calyx tube is just as short as it is in our Epilo- 

 biums, and would be readily taken for a small member 

 of that genus, but the fruit and seeds are typical. In 

 Hooker's description he gives the colour as purplish, 

 but queries it. Bentham unhesitatingly states it as 

 yellow. In W'cindorfer's specimens they are all of a pale 

 purple pink. The colour is very liable to be lost in 

 herbarium material, and it is probable Bentham was 

 misled from the prevailing colour of the genus. Th'e 

 anatomy appears to strictly conform to the type of the 

 family. The cortex is relatively thick and soft, many of 

 the cells being packed with acicular raphides. The 

 phloem is not gathered in well defined bundles. The 

 Xylem is copious in a continuous ring. There is a small 

 pith with Intra-xylary phloem. The indumentum con- 

 sists only of simple woolly hairs. The dentations of the 

 leaves terminate in water-pores. 



