60 VI. CAEYOPHTLLEAE. [Colobanthus . 



sepals. Small glaljrous densely-tufted herbs, with opposite imbricating carti- 

 laginous or fleshy leaves and erect solitary terminal or axillary flowers. 



Species, 15; restricted to mountain regions in South America, Australia, New Zealand, and 

 the Antarctic islands. The genus is more largely developed in the colony than elsewhere, and 

 all the species except C. guitensis, C. Billardieri, and G. Benthamianus are endemic. 



Placoid. Stems leafy. Sepals 4 



Flaccid. Leaves all radical. Sepals 5, ovate 



E.igid, Leaves rigid, recurved, concave. Sepals with acioular tips 



Eigid. Leaves short, recurved, canaliculate. Sepals ovate 



Soft. Leaves subulate, spreading. Sepals 4, shorter than the capsule 



Rigid. Leaves linear-subulate. Sepals 5, broadly ovate . . 



Leaves rigid, with short acioular points. Sepals 5, ovate-subulate . . 



Leaves linear-subulate, with long acioular points 



Mowers axillary on slender peduncles 



Maooid. Leaves obtuse. Flowers sunk among the leaves. Sepals 4 



1. C. guitensis. 



2. G. Billardieri. 



3. G. MuelUri. 



4. C. caiialiculatus. 



5. C. repens. 



6. G. brevisepalus. 



7. G. Benthamianus. 



8. G. acicularis. 



9. G. BucTianani. 

 10. G. muscoides. 



]. C. quitensis, iJar^ m Pr est. Relig. Haenkianae ii. 13. Tufted, lin.—2in. 

 high, soft, green, glabrous, excessively branched. Lower leaves about iin. long, 

 with broad membranous bases, concave above, acute ; upper ^in.— Jin., connate. 

 Peduncles very short, terminal. Sepals 4, ovate-oblong, obtuse, the two lateral 

 smaller than the others, one-third longer than the ripe capsule. Disk narrow. 

 —Hook, f., Handbk. N.Z. Fl. 24; Phil., Cat. PI. Vase. Chil. 27. 



SOUTH Island : Nelson mountains ; Kowhai Eiver, Canterbury. Obago, Buchanan! 



The leaves and sepals of the New Zealand plant are rarely mucronate, and never acioular. 

 This species is found throughout the Andes, also on Amsterdam Island, &c. 



3. C. Billardieri, Feml. in Ann. des Wien Mus. i. 49. Tufted, rarely 

 exceeding lin. in height, flaccid, grassy. Leaves iin.— fin. long, linear-subu- 

 late, channelled above, tips acute or acicular. Peduncles ^in.— lin. long, white. 

 Sepals 5, ovate, acute or acuminate, scarcely exceeding the ovary. Disk narrow. 

 — Hook, f., Fl. Antarc. i. 26, Fi. Tasm. i. 45, and Handbk. N.Z. Fl. 25; Benth., 

 Fl. Austr. i. 161 ; Phil., Cat. PL Vase. Chil. 87. C. affinis, Hook, in le. PL t. 

 266? Stellaria apetala, LabilL, P. Nov. Holl. i. 112, t. 142; DC, Prod. i. 395. 

 S. uniflora, Banks and Sol. MSS. 



SOUTH Island : Nelson to Southland. STEWART Island ; AUCKLAND and CAMPBELL 

 Islands; ANTIPODES Island; MACQUAEIE Island. Chiefly at sea-level in the South. Ascends 

 to 3,000ft. in Nelson and Canterbury. 



Var. alpinus. Much larger than the type, but equally Haooid, forming small tufts lin.-4in. 

 across, with spreading peduncles lin.-4in. long. Sepals ovate-acuminate, with membranous margins, 

 slightly exceeding the capsule. Leaves lin.-2in. long or more, with long acicular tips. NORTH 

 Island: Ruahine and Tararua Mountains. SOUTH Island: Southern Alps. 1,500ft. to 4,5001t. 

 Also in Victoria, Tasmania, Chili, &c. 



Golohanthus affinis, Hook., figured in Ic. PI. t. 266, differs from any form of C Billardieri 

 found in New Zealand in the broadly ovate sepals, which are only half the length of the capsule, 

 and in the broad disk. 



3. C. Muelleri, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z.I, xxvii. (1894) 356. A rigid 

 glabrous plant, forming small tufts |in.-liiii. high. Leaves cartilaginous, 

 usually recurved, broadly channelled, with short acicular tips and evident mid- 

 rib, iin.-|in. long. Peduncles iin.-|in. long, often hidden amongst the leaves. 

 Sepals 5, ovate, abruptly narrowed into cartilaginous points with acicular tips 



