Petrie. — On a Variety of Celmisia sessilifiora. 359 



Spikelets usually 6-8, lower distant on slender peduncles, upper approxi- 

 mate and nearly sessile ; all short and pale-brown ; uppermost male, others 

 male at the base only ; bracts very long and slender. 



Glumes shorter than the utricles, broad, very membranous, pale-brown 

 at sides, white near the three-nerved midrib which is continued beyond the 

 bifid apex into a long usually scabrid awn. 



Utricle turgid, plano-convex, pale-brown, beak short, bifid, toothed or plain. 



Arms of the style 3. 



Hab. Maniototo Plain 1,000-2,000 feet ; Nevis Valley 1,500 feet. 



Named in honour of T. F. Cheeseman, Esq., Curator of the Auckland 

 Museum, who has done much to settle the New Zealand species of this 

 genus. 



Art. XLV. — Description of a Variety of Celmisia sessilifiora, Hook.f. 



By D. Petrie, M.A. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 30th January, 1883.] 



Celmisia sessilifiora var. minor. 



Much smaller in all its parts than the typical form of the species. Stems with 



leaves on about as stout as a goose quill, longer and much more branched. 



Leaves -J- of an inch long or less, -^ wide ; sheaths longer and broader than 



the leaves, and much more villous than the type, especially at the tops of the 



sheaths. Achene relatively very short, about -J- the length of the pappus. 



This well-marked variety differs from the type of the species most con- 

 spicuously in the greatly smaller size of all its parts, and in the greater- 

 length and subdivision of its branches. Though separated from the specific 

 type by a wide interval, the differences are not of sufficient variety to justify 

 giving it specific rank. If, however, it should be found in other distant 

 localities, I should have no doubt about regarding it as a distinct species. 

 I have never gathered or seen any forms sensibly intermediate between this 

 variety and the common form of the species. The genus is one that 

 abounds in variable species, and the systematic working out of the varieties 

 is much needed. 



Hab. Swampy ground on the summit of Maungatua, Taieri : 2,900 

 feet. 



Art. XL VI. — Description of a new S]jecies of Senecio. By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 28th February, 1883.] 



Senecio muelleri. 



A large shrub or small tree 10-18 feet high, with spreading branches. 



Leaves 3"-7" long, l£"-2£" wide, crowded near the ends of the branches, 



