Shawia.] XXXIX. COMPOSITAE. 277 



5. SHAWIA, Forst. 



A shrub or small tree, with alternate coriaceous leaves and much-branched 



axillary panicles. Heads cylindrical, narrow ; involucral bracts imbricating, 



the upper narrow-linear. Floret 1, hermaphrodite ; ray-florets 0. Achene 



pubescent. Pappus 1 -seriate or with a few short hairs at the base. 



This genus was suppressed owing to the erroneous idea that the characters given by Porster were 

 inconstant. Thus, Hooker writes, "Florets variable in number ; generally one is ligulate and female, 

 with one to two discoid and hermaphrodite." I have examined numerous recent specimens 

 collected over the entire area of the species, but have never seen a ray-floret or anything that 

 could be mistaken for one, nor have I been able to find even a solitary involucre containing two 

 florets, although experience has shown that a mistake on this point may easily be made if only 

 dried specimens are examined. It therefore seems advisable to revive the genus, as its constancy 

 is fully established. 



1. S. paniculata, Forst., Char. Gen. 95, t. 48. A much-branched shrub 



or small tree, 5ft.— 20ft. high. Leaves 1 Jin. —Sin. long, lin.— 2in. wide, oblong 



or ovate-oblong, coriaceous, clothed beneath with short closely-appressed tomen- 



tum, obtuse ; margins waved ; petioles short. Corymbs longer or shorter than 



the leaves, spreading ; heads often densely fascicled, glabrous or glabrate, sessile. 



Anthers sometimes wholly exserted. — A. Rich., Fl. N.Z. 243; A. Cunn., Precurs. 



n. 434; Raoul, Choix t. 13. Eurybia Forsteri, Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 119. 



Olearia Forsteri, Hook, f., Handbk. 127; T. Kirk, Forest Fl. N.Z. t. 137. 



Var. obtusa. Leaves subcoriaoeous, broadly ovate or oblong, rounded at the tips. Heads 

 small, very narrow. — 0. uniflora. Col. in Trans. N.Z.I, xxii. 469 ! 



Var. elliptica. Leaves narrow-oblong or elliptic-oblong, 2in.-2Jiu. long, Jin.-fin. broad, 

 almost iiat. Heads rather short, 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : from the East Gape to Oamaru and Greymouth. Ascends 

 to 1,600ft. Akiraho. April, May. 



6. PLEUROPHYLLUM, Hook. f. 



Involucre hemispherical, herbaceous ; involucral bracts in 2—3 series. 

 Receptacle flat, pitted, toothed. Florets very numerous. Ray-florets in 3 

 series, female, ligulate or shortly bilobate. Disk-florets campanulate at the 

 mouth, abruptly narrowed into a slender filiform tube, 4— 5-toothed or -lobed ; 

 segments recurved. Anthers with very short tails. Achenes striated, setose. 

 Pappus-hairs in 3 series, scabrid, unequal. Tall robust succulent herbs. Root- 

 fibres fleshy. Leaves chiefly radical, with stout parallel ribs. Heads racemose 

 on erect scapes. 



All the species are endemic on the Antarctic islands within the New Zealand area. 



Heads with conspicuous ray -florets. 

 Leaves sessile on a broad base, longitudinally ribbed or furrowed . . . . 1. P. speciosum. 



Beads with, inconspicuous 2-3-lohed ray-florets. 

 -Leaves radical and cauline on longer or shorter petioles ; nerves few, slender . . 2. P. criniferum. 

 Leaves all radical, silvery, narrowed to a broad sheathing base, acute . . . . 3. P. Hookeri. 



1. P. speciosxun, Hook. /., Fl. Antarc. i. 31, t. 22, 23. Leaves all 

 radical, 6in.— 18in. long, 5in.— lOin. broad, usually appressed to the ground, 

 forming a huge rosette, broadly ovate or obovate or unequally rhomboid. 



