360 Transactions. — Botany. 



has been on an- average six-fold in three years. I have counted forty-four 

 fans on one that has been seven or eight years planted, and over 200 are 

 often found on well grown bushes in suitable localities. The fan that has 

 flowered, as already stated, invariably dies down the following year, but I 

 have never yet seen an uninjured one which has shown any signs of decay 

 from old age before flowering. 



I do not profess to have given you in these remarks very much that is 

 new, but I thought that you would not object to a resume of what has been 

 ascertained on this subject, and I will finish my paper with the following 

 general conclusions : — 



That there is an annual growth of five or six leaves on each fan of all 

 Phormiu7)i bushes growing in fiivourable positions, and that each leaf is 

 mature and fully developed in six months from its first appearance. 



That leaves more than thirteen or fourteen months old are generally so 

 decayed as to be unfit for manufacture. 



That the practice of mowing off all the leaves of each fan must injure, and 

 will gradually destroy the whole plant. 



That the growth of transplanted sets and of seedlings of the Phormium is 

 so tedious, and the expense of planting so great, that the cultivation cannot 

 be carried out with advantage so long as the fibre is prepared only for roping 

 purposes. 



That as manufacturers must therefore depend on the existing PJiormium 

 fields for the supply of the raw material it is to their interest to use every 

 means in their power to preserve them from injury. 



Art. XLIX. — Notes on Plants collected near Invercargill. By J. S. Webb. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 29th October, 1872.] 



Having promised Mr. Kirk that when time permitted I would send him a 

 contribution to his herbarium from this province, I availed myself of a few 

 unoccupied hours, during a visit to Invercargill in January of last year, to 

 attempt a fulfilment of the promise. As the plants were for comparison with 

 those of other localities, I concluded that the results of a searching examination 

 of a narrow area woiild be more useful than desultory gatherings. I therefore 

 collected every plant I could secure from about a square mile of tussock 

 ground, between the Puni creek and the Main East road, about a mile out of 

 the town. The vegetation proved to be very poor, and what struck me as very 

 remarkable included very few introduced plants, and those chiefly of three or 

 four species. Even the universal white clover had not there made headway 



