856 Transactions. — Botany. 



88. V. rakaiensis, n.s. 



A slender, bright-green shrub, 3-6 feet high. Branches upright, extremely 

 slender, marked by black leaf-scars. Leaves decussate or laxly imbricated, 

 linear-lanceolate, or linear-oblong, shortly petioled, -1^-1 inch long, acute, 

 quite entu-e, glabrous and shining above, pubescent below, concave above, 

 flat not keeled below; veins obscure. Flowers in many-flowered pubescent 

 racemes in pairs near the tips of the branches. Racemes 1-2 inches long, 

 curved. Pedicels i inch longer, very slender. Bracts very short, concave 

 and ciliated. Calyx-lobes -^-^ inch long, oblong, obtuse, ciliated, and pubes- 

 cent. Corolla pure white ; tube shorter than the calyx ; limb ^ inch diameter ; 

 lobes nearly equal, obtuse, reflexed. Stamens spreading widely. Anthers brown. 

 Style as long as the stamens, curved upwards. Capsule ^ inch long, ovate- 

 oblong, acute, pubescent. 



Hab. — Canterbury Alps 2,000-4,000 feet, scarce. 



This is the T", colensoi var. gracilis of gardens ; it must not be confounded 

 with the Australian V. gracilis, Br., which is a very different plant. 



This species appears to be self-sterile, and is, I believe, fertilized by a 

 very small hymenopterous insect. The flowers smell strongly of honey. 

 It is best distinguished from V. colensoi by the extremely slender branches 

 and smaller narrower leaves. 



45. V. kirJdi, Armstrong, "New Zealand Country Jom-nal," Vol.III.,p. 58. 

 A tall handsome shrub 6-12 feet high, with dark brown polished branches, 

 which are ringed by old leaf-scars. Leaves 1-1|^ inch long by ^ inch wide, 

 lanceolate, decussate or loosely imbricate, entire, smooth, acute, sessile by 

 a broad base, slightly concave, recurved ; midrib rather prominent below, 

 sunken above. Floicers shortly pedicelled in long slender racemes in the 

 axils of the uppermost leaves. Eacemes 4-8 inches long, 50-100-flowered, 

 very slender, curved, very densely flowered, pubescent. Bracts lanceolate, 

 acuminate, ciliate, much shorter than the calyx. Calyx-lobes J^ inch long, 

 lanceolate or ovate, ciliated, acuminate. Corolla pure white ; tube i inch 

 long ; limb J inch diameter ; lobes nearly erect, ovate-oblong, obtuse, con- 

 cave. Stamens as long as the style. Ayithers blue. Capsule rounded, ovate, 

 sub-acute, much compressed, hoary, twice as long as the calyx. 



Hab. — Canterbury Provincial District. First collected by Mr. J. F. 

 Armstrong in 1868 in the Upper Eangitata vallej'', which is very rich in 

 species of the genus. This plant seems sufficiently distinct, but is closely 

 related in many characters to V. macroura and V. stricta ; from the former it 

 is best distinguished by the sessile narrower leaves and much longer 

 racemes, and from the latter by the shorter leaves and denser flowers. 



47. V. stricta var. lindleyana, hort., Armstrong. A shrub, 6-10 feet high. 

 Leaves 3-4 inches lozig, 1 inch broad, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, shortly 



