164 



pairs, sessile or shortly pedicelled, bracts of the lower flowers large leafy, of 

 the upper small, narrow linear, often deciduous, calyx coriaceous, lobes about 

 8 marginate, narrow, corolla 3'^-V across, pale bright straw colour, with a 

 dark maroon eye, capsule conical, valves i-ugose, when young, densely hispid, 

 calyx lobes and bracts covered with harsh rigid hairs, which cause much 

 irritation to the skin when the plant is handled. 



Spirits' Bay and the adjacent district, T. K. Between the Bay of Islands 

 and Mongonui, Colenso. 



Also, in ISTew South Wales, Queensland, Norfolk Island, and other islands 

 in the South Pacific, South Africa, Mauritius, and Madagascar. 



Mr. Colenso appears to have been its original discoverer in New Zealand. 



The branches yield a coarse fibre. 



Linum marginale, A. Cunn. 



A perennial herb, with numerous erect or diffixse slender wiry stems, 

 springing from a woody root stock. Stems l'-3' high, the upper part 

 irregularly branched. Leaves |-"-f " long, linear-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, 

 the lower ones falling before the capsules are matui-ed. Flowers on long 

 slender pedicels, pale blue. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute, with membranous 

 margins. Petals nearly twice the length of the sepals. Styles united, their 

 tips free, recurved. Capsule globose, " divided into 10 1-seeded cocci." 



From the North Cape to Upper Waikato, New Plymouth, Wellington, T.K. 



Mr. Buchanan informs me that a blue-flowered flax, found by Dr. Haast 

 in the Cantei"bury Alps, is probably referable to this species. 



Easily distinguished from L. monogynum, Forst., by its slender stems and 

 shallow blue flowers. 



It is probably common in suitable localities throughout the colony. 



Common in Australia and Tasmania ; closely allied to L. angustifolium, 

 D.C., from which it differs in the united styles. 



Ainum lejitophyllwrn, F. Mueller. 

 Helosciadium leptophyllum, D.G. 



Stems slender, erect or difiiise, 3 inches to 1 foot in height, glabrous, faintly 

 grooved. Leaves tri-pinnate, leaflets numei'ous, linear flat or almost filiform, 

 lower leaves petiolate, petioles winged, sheathing, upper leaves sessile or 

 nearly so. Umbels numerous, springing from the nodes, small, sessile, rays 

 2 or 3, pai'tial u.mbels many flowered, flowers minute, pedicellate, involucral 

 bracts 0, style short. Fruit small, ovate, with turgid ribs. 



Kororareka, and other places at the Bay of Islands, T. K., Kawau Island, 

 T. K. Said to occur at Whangarei, but on insufficient authority. 



Queensland, New South Wales, South America. 



New Zealand specimens are much more slender than Australian ; the 

 segm^ents of the leaves are wider and usually flat. 



