299 Transactions.— Botany. 
male flowers, and after the pollen which is green has been shed, they 
wither rapidly away. A few days later, and the scapes coming up have 
often both kinds of flowers mixed, which gives the fruit-spike when ripe a 
ragged or interrupted appearance very common in some species, from the 
places of the male flowers remaining vacant. Later still the scapes (which 
come up in succession all the summer) have nothing but female flowers, 
and these have the finest fruit. The scapes which bear both kinds of 
flowers are generally barren, unless the female flowers predominate, in 
which case a few drupes come to maturity, but are shy, small and half- 
withered looking. 
The male scapes attain their full length before flowering, which they do 
in a few days; the female lengthen after flowering, and indeed till the fruit 
is mature. The female flowers are developed as soon as the scape appears 
in the axil of the leaves, and are in full flower at, or even under, the surface, 
the long hairy or papillose styles spreading like rootlets among the débris of 
withered leaves, as if in search of the pollen grains which had been shed in 
spring, and are probably still remaining in a fertile condition among the 
moist foliage. 
Gumera hamiltonii, Kirk, n. sp. 
Mr. Kirk has not yet sent me the Piuse of this handsome and 
unique species. It is extremely local, occurring in patches on the hills near 
the New River Heads. It completely excludes every other kind of vegeta- 
tion, and from its graceful cuneate-deltoid deeply and sharply dentate 
foliage gives the surface a peculiarly crisp appearance. The extremely 
coriaceous strongly-ribbed leaves tufted densely together support the foot, 
and spreading from a hollow centre give the ground a bird-nested appear- 
ance. The succulent leaves are extremely rich in lime and silica and give 
off, when old, the epidermis as a grey paper. The flowers of this species are 
spiked, the anthers sessile on very stout scapes, not crowded; the drupes on 
still stouter peduncles, as thick as a goose-quill and two to four inches long, 
bright red, and with the drupes almost sunk in the fleshy peduncle, not 
crowded, but occupying an inch or more of the top of the scape. 
Tillea hamiltonii, Kirk, n. sp. 
This Tillea, occurring on the flats of the Makarewa, also takes to the 
river-bed, and, along with other species of aquatic or, rather, semi-amphi- 
bious plants, carpets the river-bottom to a very considerable depth. This is 
a remarkable feature of the Makarewa, and, whatever be its cause, is a very 
strange peculiarity. 
Lindsea linearis, Swartz. 
This fern occurs plentifully in the Seaward Moss, but still i in a very local 
way. It occurs in strips across the plains, as if following the outcrop of 
