880 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. LVI. — -Notes on New Zealand Plants. By J. Buchanan, F.L.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 21st February, 1880.] 



Mesemhryanthemuf}n aquilaterale, Haw. 



Baron vou Mueller informs me that this species is often fomid accom- 

 panying Mesem.hr yaMhemnm australis, Soland., and may be distinguished by 

 the longer acutely trigonous leaves and pulpy fruit. 

 ZannichelUa palustris, Linn.* 



According to Baron von Mueller, there is little doubt that the plant under 

 this name belongs to the genus LepUana. The difference between Zanni- 

 chelUa and LepiUvna consists in the male flowers. These may be easily 

 found all the year round in New Zealand at the swollen bases of the leaves, 

 and generally on distinct plants from the female. 



Solanum vescum, F. Muell. 



Eespecting this species, its author states that it may often be found 

 growing with Solamim aviculare, Forst. It is a smaller shrub, and is dis- 

 tinguished from the latter by the angular dark-green branches, small entire 

 dark-green leaves, darker coloured flowers, with somewhat different stamens, 

 berries small, roundish, and green, never egg-shaped or orange-colour when 

 ripe. The natives of Australia always avoid the fruit of S. aviculare, as 

 poisonous, but eat with impunity that of S. vescuni. 



The following plants have been recently added to the flora of New 

 Zealand : — 



Oreostylidium, Berggren, nov. gen. 



This genus is founded on a small alpine, Stylidinm subulatum, Hook, 

 fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 168 ; placed in that genus by Hooker from 

 imperfect flowering specimens. Oreostylidium differs from Stylidium in the 

 deeply divided corolla, short erect column, and indehiscent capsule. Habitat 

 in New Zealand, Euapehu Mountain, Swampy Hill near Dunedin, Inver- 

 cargill, Berggren; Nelson Mountains, Travers ; Haast. Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Lund, 1878, p. 1. 



Ahrotanella linearis, Berggren, n. sp. 



A larger plant than A. pusilla of Hook, fil.. Handbook N.Z. Flora, I., 

 139. Scape longer and bracteate. Leaves long, obtuse, spreading. Otira 

 Gorge, Canterbury, 3,000ft. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lund, 1878, p. 14. 

 Draco jjhyllimi acerosum, Berggren, n. sp. 



Mount Torlesse and Bealy Eiver, Canterbury. Trans, Roy. Soc. Lund, 

 1878, p. 15. 



* [For reference to the occurrence .in New Zealand of ZannichelUa (Lepilcena) palus- 

 tris, Linn., and L. preissii, F. Mueller, see papers by T. Kirk, F.L.S., in Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 ni., 143 ; VII., 508 ; X. App. x\.—Ed.] 



