Olearia.] XXXIX. COMPOSITae. 275 



woolly. Florets 30—26. Disk-florets about 8 ; mouth very short, funnel-shaped ; 



rays very short. Achene silky or pubescent. Pappus white, unequal. 



SOUTH Island: Marlborough: 'Pe\orus Sound, Rutland ! T. E. Canterbury: Banks Penin- 

 sula, J. B. Armstrmig. Otago: Kaitangata, Catlin's River, Invercargill, Kawarau Gorge, Matukituki 

 Valley, Pet/rie I Sea-level to 2,000£t. Oct., Nov. 



31. O. laxiflora, n. s. Approaching 0. odorata, but a larger plant, with 

 slender divaricating almost pendulous branches. Leaves opposite or fascicled, 

 narrow linear-spathulate or almost lanceolate, narrowed into very short petioles, 

 obtuse but not rounded at the apex, subcoriaceous, whitish or ferruginous 

 beneath with finely-appressed tomentum. Heads very numerous, in opposite lax 

 fascicles ; peduncles usually 5—10 or more, fin. long, glabrate or puberulous, 

 very slender ; involucre turbinate ; bracts few, in 3 series, lax, villous at the 

 tips, the upper linear-oblong, twice as long as the lower. Ray-florets 3— 4<, 

 broad. Disk-florets 2—1; mouth campanulate; segments recurved ; tube very 

 long. Style-arms short, obtuse. Achene ribbed, glabrate. 



SOUTH Island : Hokitika, B. Tipler ! 



Nearly allied to 0. odorata, but differing in the hard tomentura on the under surface of 

 the leaves, the larger open fascicles, long slender peduncles, lax involucres, and fewer florets. 

 A very handsome species. 



32. O. odorata, Petrie in Trans. N.Z.I, xxiii. (1890) 399. An erect 

 spreading much-branched divaricating shrub, 8ft.— 10ft. high. Branches stout, 

 terete, rarely angular at the tips, grooved. Leaves opposite, usually fascicled, 

 Jin.— lin. long, linear-spathulate, narrowed into very short petioles, rounded at 

 the apex, coriaceous or subcoriaceous, glabrate or almost silky above, white with 

 soft appressed tomentum beneath. Heads in opposite fascicles ; peduncles 2—5, 

 Jin.— fin. long, silky ; involucres broadly campanulate ; involucral bracts in 

 3— t series, short, viscid, tips often spreading. Florets 15—30; rays 6—15, very 

 short. Disk-florets with a short mouth. Style-arms more obtuse than in 

 O. laxiflora. Achene silky or pubescent. Pappus white, unequal. 



SOUTH Island : Westland and Otago : not unfrequent. 



I have not seen North Island specimens. Ic may be that this plant is the typical 0. mrgata, 

 but this could only be determined by an examination of the original specimens at Kew. 



33. O. virgata, Hook. /., Handbk. 128. A much-branched spreading 

 shrub, 4ft.— 10ft. high, often forming thickets. Branchlets usually angled, 

 grooved, stout or slender, puberulous, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves ^in.— Jin. 

 long, linear-obovate or linear-spathulate, opposite or in opposite fascicles, sessile 

 or narrowed into a short petiole, coriaceous, white beneath with appressed 

 tomentum, glabrate or pubescent above. Heads solitary or fascicled, sessile or 

 on very short peduncles, turbinate or almost campanulate, |in. long; bracts in 

 3 series, usually villous, upper oblong-lanceolate, subacute. Florets 7—12 ; 

 rays very short ; mouth of disk-florets shortly funnel-shaped. Style-arms 

 acute. Achene glabrous or almost pubescent. The lips of the ligula and seg- 

 ments are usually pubescent on the outside, and rarely the rays are divided into 

 2 or 3 linear lobes. — O. fasciculifolia, Col. in Trans. N.Z.I, xxv. (1892) 330, 



