858 Transactions. — Botany. 



thinner towards the tips. Leaves pale green, spreading, decussate in rather 

 distant pairs, ovate or oblong-ovate or oblong, 1-1 ^ inch long or more, J-1 

 inch wide, on very short extremely stout petioles, quite entire, acute, almost 

 glabrous above, pubescent below and on the midrib, coriaceous, ciliated ; 

 midrib excurrent, concave above, prominent below, the other veins faintly 

 reticulated. Racemes in sub-terminal pairs, very stout and dense, erect, 2 

 inches long, 1 inch through. Peduncles stout, pubescent. Bracts linear- 

 oblong, acute, yV ^^(^^^ long, ciliated, sometimes J inch long, leafy, lan- 

 ceolate. Calyx pubescent and ciliate ; lobes ^ inch long, ovate-oblong, 

 keeled, ciliated, acute. Corolla pale purple, white or blue ; tube xo-| inch 

 long, very broad, angled ; limb ^-|- inch diameter ; lobes concave, spreading, 

 nearly equal, obtuse. Stamens very stout, spreading widely, curved up- 

 wards, longer than the straight stout style. Anthers brown, very large. 

 Capsules J inch long, ovate-oblong, glabrous or hoary, obtuse or sm^mounted 

 by the base of the style, much compressed. 



Hab. — Downs near the sea in the south of Canterbury. 



I have been much puzzled with this plant which is exactly intermediate 

 in character between T^. elliptica and V. speciosa. It resembles V. elliptica in 

 the colour and size of the flowers and the colour of the leaves, and F. speciosa 

 in the stamens and shape of the foliage. In size it is exactly intermediate 

 between these two, and those authors who favour the hybridism theory as 

 accounting for the variations of s^Decies would probably class this as a 

 hybrid, but such an idea is exceedingly improbable in this case, as no plants 

 of V. speciosa have been found within 200 miles of the district where this 

 plant was found, although the whole district has been very carefully bota- 

 nized. Besides hybrids usually show very great variations in the characters 

 of their flowers, but this plant is one of the most constant species in the 

 colony. It is a very beautiful shrub, with larger flowers than any other New 

 Zealand one except T^ macrantha. 



Besides the above species, I have two other species belonging to this sec- 

 tion, without flowers or fruit. 



No. 1. A small, decumbent, or sub-erect shrub, about 1 foot high. 

 Leaves imbricated, dimorphic, the young state spreading, obovate, acute, 

 deeply lobed or pinnatifid, the old state sub-erect, not closely appressed, 

 not connate at the bases, ovate-lanceolate, acute, keeled, gradually nar- 

 rowed to the point, sessile, ciliated, |— i- inch long. Branches obscurely 

 tetragonous, tomentose or pubescent between the leaves. 



Hab. — Eangitata, Ashbm-tou, and Eakaia valleys ; differs from V. lycopio- 

 dioides, in the larger size, and the leaves not connate, and gradually narrowed 

 into the acute points. 



No. 2. A very small shrub a feAV inches high, like V. tetragona, but the 



