290 Transactions.— Botany. 
January. I have never seen the ripe berry, but it is no doubt viscid, like 
those of other plants of its class, and eaten by birds. - The Maoris call it 
by the same name, ''rorerore," as the smaller roseate fuchsia-shaped 
Loranthus. à 
I have mentioned that while the forests south and west of Ruapehu are 
of red birch, the detached bushes on the east of the mountain are of 
black. It is curious that the vegetation on the east and south of the 
mountain differs widely, though the soil and everything but the aspect 
exactly correspond. The slope of the mountain is so gentle that one would 
think the aspect could make no difference; yet plants which abound on 
the east are wholly wanting on the south, and vice versá. For instance a 
plant which seems to be identical with or very closely allied to Carmichalia 
enysii (Trans., vol. xvi., p. 879) abounds, and forms patches many yards in 
diameter on the east of the mountain, but there is not a trace of it on the 
south. As it had neither blossoms nor fruit in January, I did not gather 
any specimens, and could find no small plants. Next day I sought it in 
vain on the south side of the mountain. From what I have heard, I 
believe the vegetation on the north and north-west of the mountain is 
different again. 
Art. XXXV.—Notes on the Occurrence and Habits of some of our New 
Zealand Plants. By W. S. Hamtton. 
[Read before the Southland Institute, 13th May, 1884.] 
Glossostigma elatinoides, Benth. 
Tas plant occurs on the flats of the Oreti, in the bottom of ditches that 
have been opened for some time. Its corolla is pale blue and very pretty, 
itinch. The strap-shaped stigma is irritable, and springs back on being 
touched, leaving the anthers exposed; and taking a place among the petals, 
looks exactly like an additional one. Before springing back it forms a hood 
over the anthers, and looks like an Orchid or a Lobelia. This plant has not, 
so far as I know, been reported from the south before. It does not occur 
on the flats except where a ditch has been opened, thus leading us to 
suppose that the subsoil is full of its seed, but that the climate is no longer 
suitable to its growth, and that it can only grow now under exceptional cir- 
cumstances of shelter and moisture. 
Pteris scaberula, A. Rich. 
Like the last-mentioned, this plant occurs in Southland under somewhat 
exceptional conditions. It also springs up where ditches have been opened 
along the roadsides, in the cemetery, and in sheltered spots on the Bluff Hill. 
