Cotenso.—On the Botany of New Zealand. 827 
apex, almost truncate at base, petioles 1-1 inch long, channelled above and 
closely ciliate on the edges with 2 rows of short white erect hairs, bracts 
at base diverging, long, linear, very acuminate and acute, with a few (2-4) 
fine teeth or laciniations that are obtuse and knobbed.  Peduncles 3-1} 
inches long, quadrangular, succulent, purple-striped, bracts linear-acumi- 
nate acute, usually not opposite; flowers small, 8 lines diameter, white, 
occasionally one having a few narrow faint-blue stripes; the two lateral 
petals woolly inside in a small circular patch just opposite the anthers ; spur 
short, gibbous; sepals rather large, oblong-ovate, acute, scarious at edges. 
Hab. On dry open upland heaths between Matamau and Danneverke, 
Waipawa county; also, in adjoining “scrub,” among Leptospermum and 
other shrubs, 1880-1888: W.C. 
Obs. I have long known this pretty little plant, but have hitherto - 
delayed describing it, thinking it (without close examination) to be a variety 
of the well-known and common species V. cunninghamii, and not wishing to 
add another species to this extensive and cosmopolitan genus. This spring, 
however, haying again visited its habitat, and fully examined it in its fresh 
and living state, I am satisfied of its distinctness from V. cunninghamii and 
its other congeners. It is a very lowly plant, and although common there, 
and bearing a great profusion of flowers, it is scarcely perceptible among 
the numerous small heath plants and mosses that grow. thickly with it. 
Orper XXVIII. MYRTACEA. 
Genus 2. Metrosideros, Br. 
Metrosideros vesiculata, sp. nov. 
Plant small, *a bushy shrub 2-8 feet high,” of erect fastigiate growth 
and very leafy; branches densely tomentose and hairy. Leaves decus- 
sate, broadly elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 5 lines long, 3-34 lines broad, 
obtuse, pellucid-dotted, glabrous, coriaceous, 8-nerved, sub-revolute, petio- 
late, petioles short, stout, pubescent, paler green and sub-muricated below 
with small raised black spots; young leaves very tomentose and sub- 
strigosely hairy below. Flowers sub-terminal, axillary, white, single or 
ternate; peduncle 1-13 lines long, stout, hairy; pedicels jointed, glabrous, 
very short. Calyx glabrous with a few scattered weak hairs, tube broadly 
campanulate, vesicular, 5-lobed; lobes elliptic or sub-rotund at top, per- 
sistent, margins thin and slightly ciliate. Corolla white, petals small, 
sessile, broadly oblong or sub-orbicular, sinuate and slightly toothed at edges, 
concave, crowded at centre with raised orbicular vesicles, 1-nerved, coloured” 
in the centre (dry specimens). Stamens numerous, spreading, 4 lines long. 
Style very stout, simple, 6 lines long, persistent. Capsule sub-rotund, 14 
lines diameter, glabrous, vesicular, rather thin, 4-loculicidal, girt below the 
middle. 
