106 



For Sandy and Muddy Places : 

 (especially near the sea.) 

 * Zoysia pwngens. *Poa breviglumis. 



For Places occasionally overflowed by the Sea. 

 Sclerochloa distorts, var. obtusa. S. maritima. 



For Planting on Clay Soils, amongst Manuka, etc. 

 Stenotaphrum glabrum, Buffalo grass. 



It may safely be asserted that the best pastures in the province would be 

 improved by a mixture of some of the condimental plants mentioned, say at 

 the rate of 3 lbs. of seed to the acre, or 2 lbs., if a large proportion of yarrow 

 is used, with a few pounds of such of the fescues and rneadow-grasses as may 

 be best adapted to remedy existing defects. 



There is little doubt that superior varieties of the best of these grasses — forms 

 more closely adapted to our precise requirements than anything we at present 

 possess — will be obtained with comparatively little difficulty, when the attention 

 of the agriculturist is systematically directed to this point. The rye-grasses, 

 fescues, and meadow-grasses, in particular, exhibited, in nearly every species, 

 wide variations in the yield and habit of growth ; and it is by successive 

 selections of the best of these variations, and carefully noticing any cultural 

 peculiarities that may have influenced their production, with a view to future 

 adaptation, that improved forms will be fixed and perpetuated. 



Art. XVIII. — On the occurrence of Orobanche ; a genus new to the Flora of 

 New Zealand. By T. Kirk. 



[Bead before the Auckland Institute, September 20, 1869.] 



Mr. Robert Mair, of Whangarei, has favoured me with a specimen of an 

 Orobanche, discovered by him, and from the interest attending the first 

 discovery of a Broom rape in this colony, I venture to make a few remarks 

 upon the specimen so kindly sent, chiefly with the view of directing the 

 attention of other botanists to the genus. 



The specimen is unhappily in a bad state of preservation, having suffered 

 considerably from the attacks of insects, so that it would not be safe to attempt 

 a diagnosis until better material can be procured. From the solitary bract, 

 and sepals narrowed into subulate points, it evidently belongs to the group of 

 which the European Orobanche minor, which is commonly parasitic on the roots of 

 clover, may be taken as the type, its nearest ally appears to be the 0. Picridis 

 (F. W. Schultz), from which it differs (so far as can be judged from the 

 condition of the specimen), in more robust habit, more numerous and closely 

 aggregated flowers, wider bracts, which become much elongated after flowering, 

 in the broader sepals, which are shorter than the tube of the corolla which is 

 more erect, and less ventricose at the base, with narrower tips. 



Mr. Mair informs me, "that the plant grows on a sharp ridge, which has 

 never been broken up, and is covered with Pteris esculenta, and a few scattered 

 plants of hawk-weed." It is probably parasitic on the roots of the hawk-weed. 



In the southern hemisphere, this genus is found at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. A solitary species, 0. cernua (Loeff), which is also a Mediterranean 

 plant, is found in Australia, where it is chiefly parasitic on the roots of /Senecio 

 lautus. 



It might be worth while to search for other members of this genus at the 

 roots of our various Araliads, especially of Panax Colensoi, and P. Lessonii, 

 in hilly districts. 



