300 Transactio7is. — Botany. 



This is nearest to L. filifolium, but differs in its stemless habit, smaller 

 size, more numerous leaves with much more copious divisions, and in the 

 shorter peduncles. 



Uah. — Grassy slopes on Mount Arthur, Nelson, alt. 4,000-5,500 feet. 

 3. Poranthera aljnna, n. sp. 



Small, perfectly glabrous, 2-4 inches high. Branches numerous, decum- 

 bent or suberect, usually densely compacted and interlaced, hard and woody 

 at the base, scarred. Leaves opposite, all uniform, crowded, sessile or nar- 

 rowed into a very short petiole, linear-oblong, quite entire, obtuse, i-i inch 

 long, smooth and veinless above, margins usually so much revolute as to 

 conceal the whole of the under surface except the very thick and prominent 

 midrib. Stipules large, triangular, entire or very slightly jagged, persistent. 

 Flowers apparently dioecious ; minute, greenish- white, shortly pedicelled, 

 solitary in the axils of the upper leaves, and thus forming short leafy ter- 

 minal heads. Males : — Labyx divided nearly to the base into 5 oblong 

 segments. Petals wanting in all the flowers examined. Stamens 5, 

 alternating with 5 rounded green glands. Females : — Labyx, etc., as in 

 the males. Stamens, ; ovary large, rounded, 6-lobed, 3-celled, ovules 

 2 in each cell. Capsule globose-depressed, apparently splitting into 3 

 cocci, but not seen perfectly ripe. 



Hah. — ^Bocky ledges on Mount Arthur, Nelson, ascending to within a 

 short distance of the summit of the mountain. Alt. 6,000ft. 



This is a most unexpected and interesting addition to our Flora, and is 

 perfectly distinct from any of the Australian species. The only other plant 

 of the genus known from New Zealand is P. microphylla, Broug., which I 

 discovered in the Nelson district in 1878.* 



4. Triglochin paJustre, L. 



In January, 1880, when botanizing in the Canterbury mountains with 

 my friend Mr. J. D. Enys, numerous specimens of a plant clearly referable 

 to this species were collected, by a small tributary of the Broken river, at an 

 altitude of about 2,500ft., and Mr. Enys has since met with it in several 

 localities in the vicinity of the first station. T. pahistre is a common plant 

 in the northern hemisphere, being found throughout Northern and Central 

 Europe, North Africa, North Asia to the Himalaya Mountains, and in 

 North America. In the South Temperate Zone it has as yet only been 

 recorded from Chili. T. palitsti-e may be distinguished from T. triandrum, 

 our only other native species, by its much larger size (some of my Canter- 

 bury specimens are nearly two feet high), stouter scape, more numerous 

 flowers, and particularly by the linear-clavate fruit. 



♦ " Trans. N.Z. Inst,," vol. xi., p. 432, 



