Colenso.— On the Botany of New Zealand. 339 



Order V. TYPHACEiE. 

 Genus 2. Sparganmm, Linn. 

 Sparganiurn angusti folium, E. Brown. 



Hah. Hawke's Bay, low watery places, sides of streams, etc. : W.C. 

 Petane, near Napier, 1882 : Mr. A. Hamilton. 



Obs. — Agreeing closely with the Australian species ; also found in the nor- 

 thern parts of the North Island, and long confounded with S. simplex, Huds. 

 Order VII. LILIACE.E. 

 Genus 4. Dianella, Lamarck. 

 Dianella nigra, sp. nov. 



Plant a diffuse herb ; leaves drooping, subrigid when old, 3 feet long, 

 8 lines broad, linear acuminate and very acute, keeled, hooked on margins 

 and keel throughout, glabrous, glossy above, striate below, finely and regu- 

 larly nerved, margins slightly recurved, light-green, bases pink-red, and so 

 bracts. Scapes, 3 feet 9 incbes to 4 feet 3 inches long, stem below dark- 

 green, subterete, 1-2 foliaceous bracts below panicle ; panicle proper, 2 feet 

 to 2 feet 8 inches long, narrow oblong, slender and very loose, black-purple ; 

 main branchlets few, 4-10 inches long, wiry, filiform, very distant on 

 rhachis, 4-6-10 inches apart, tough, each divided into 2-4 long slender 

 sub-branchlets, all straight and suberect, each sub-branchlet with 4-5 

 scattered flowers at top on long pedicels ; pedicels 1-2 inches long, spread- 

 ing ; ultimate bracts small, linear, obtuse, 1-2 lines long, generally situated 

 2-4 lines below junction of subpeduncle. Perianth (unfolded) dark-purple 

 almost black, linear-oblong obtuse under 2 lines long, expanded 3^ lines 

 diameter, patent not reflexed, segments with very dark distinct nerves, 

 margius whitish ; three outer segments 5-nerved, sublinear-ovate, three inner 

 segments 3-nerved, broader and more obtuse at apex. Anthers linear- 

 oblong obtuse, light-yellow, scarcely 1 line long; struma about same length, 

 a little thicker, thickest upwards, dark orange-yellow ; filaments below much 

 longer, very slender, bent and crumpled, white ; style a little longer than 

 stamens, slightly curved ; stigma capitate, papillose. Ovary subtricpuetrous, 

 rotund at apex, glabrous, +, or so, inferior. 



Hub. Dry hillsides among under shrubs, forests near Matamau (S.), 

 Waipawa County, 1882 ; flowering in December : W.C. 



Obs. — A peculiar looking species from its tall, large, and lax black 

 panicle and very small star-like flowers, widely differing from our other 

 only known N.Z. species, I). intermedia, which species is also said to be 

 generally common in the S. Polynesian Islands, as Fiji, etc. [see Seemann, 

 Bentham, etc.] I only detected two bushy diffuse plants or tussocks tbat 

 had been browsed on by cattle in the past season; they bore, however, a 

 quantity of new leaves, and a great number of scapes. 



