Colenso. — On the Botany of New Zealand. 327 



apex, almost truncate at base, petioles \-\ 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, \-\\ 

 inches long, quadrangular, succulent, purple-striped, bracts linear-acumi- 

 nate acute, usually not opposite ; flowers small, 3 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. 



Hob. On dry open upland heaths between Matamau and Danneverke, 

 Waipawa county; also, in adjoining "scrub," among Leptospermum and 

 other shrubs, 1880-1883 : W.G. 



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, having 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. 

 Order XXVIII. MYETACEiE. 

 G-enus 2. Metrosideros, Br. 

 Metrosideros vesiculata, sp. nov. 



Plant small, " a bushy shrub 2-3 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, 3-3^- lines broad, 

 obtuse, pellucid-dotted, glabrous, coriaceous, 3-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 1-1^ 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, l£ 

 lines diameter, glabrous, vesicular, rather thin, 4-loculicidal, girt below the 

 middle. 



