388 Transactions. — Botany. 



4. Dacrydium laxifolium. 



Hook, fil., Lond. Journ. of Bot., IV., p. 143; Icones Plant., 815; Flora Nov. Zel., 

 I., p. 234; Handbook of N.Z. Fl., p. 259 ; Carr., Conif., p. 487. 



A weak prostrate shrub, ■with trailing stems. Monoecious ; branches 

 few, stragghng, 3-15 inches long. Leaves on young plants, linear, curved, 

 spreading, -^-i inch long, gradually diminishing in size to -^ inch, when 

 they become slightly thickened and obtuse, at length laxly imbricated all 

 round the branches, broadly ovate, keeled, ^-q~^ inch long. Male catkins 

 terminal on short branchlets, ^-J inch long, solitary elliptic, anthers 2. 

 Female flowers solitary, terminal ; nut conical, with a minute hooked 

 apiculus. Involucral cup usually dry, sometimes dilated, fleshy, red. 



a. debilis. — Branches few, straggling ; leaves rarely imbricating. 



ft, compacta. — Branches numerous, short, strict ; leaves imbricating ; 

 X^lant forming a compact mass. 



North Island : a. Euahine Range — Colenso ; Tongariro — Bidivill ! 

 Colenso, Hector ! 



South Island : a. Nelson mountains — Bidwill ; Black HiUs, Canterbury, 

 4,000 feet — Sinclair and Haast ! ; high ground between Kumara and 

 Marsden, AVestland — T. Kirk; Upper Waimakariri and Arthur's Pass, 

 2,000-3,000 feet — /. D, Enys and T.K. ; mountains above Lake Harris — 

 T.K. ; Otago — Hector and Buchanan, ft. Otago — J. Buchanan, Herb. 

 Mus. Col. ! ; mountains above Lake Harris — T.K. 



The most diminutive j^ine known ; fruiting specimens are sometimes 

 only two inches high, usually from six inches to ten. South Island speci- 

 mens are usually more or less glaucous, and rather more robust than those 

 from Tongariro, collected by Dr, Hector. The latter moreover are destitute 

 of imbricated leaves. In southern specimens both forms of leaf may be 

 found on the same branch, and cases of reversion are not uncommon. 

 When the involucral cup is fleshy, the fruit bears a great resemblance to 

 that of Podocarpus dacrydioides. 



At first sight the var. ft. compacta appears a totally different plant, but 

 is connected with the type by intermediate forms. 



In his sketch of the botany of Otago, Mr. Buchanan remarks : — " This 

 (D. laxifolium) is a very doubtful species, being difficult to distinguish from 

 D. colensoi," — an opinion in which I cannot concur. To me it appears a 

 most distinct plant, easily recognized in all stages. The difficulty expe- 

 rienced by Mr. Buchanan and others has doubtless arisen from mixing 

 small specimens of D. hidwillii with this species. 



5. Dacrydium hidwillii, n.s. 



Hook, fil., in litt. 

 A dioecious shrub, erect, spreading, or prostrate. Leaves on young 

 plants linear, obtuse, crowded, sessile, flat, ascending, i-i inch long ; on 



