38 



MYRSINE^. 



Myrsine Chathamica. 

 (Sect. Suttonia.) 



Leaves obovate, toothless, fole-green on both pages, rather large, 

 flat, on very short petioles ; calyx four-toothed, ciliolate ; pedicels 

 twice or thrice shorter than the spherical drupes. 



Common in the woods of the Chatham-Islands. 



Branchlets almost glabrous. Leaves thinly coriaceous, 1-2" long, 

 immersed-dotted with roundish rufous glandular points, blunt "or 

 emarginate at the apex, finely net-veined, smooth, somewhat shining. 

 Pedicels f-l^'" long. Teeth of the deeply divided calyx about ^"' 

 long, semiovate-deltoid. Fruits (sent separately) obscurely purplish, 

 one-seeded, of the size of large peas. Putamen faintly streaked. 

 Seeds measuring about 2'". Embryo and albumen normal. 



The stature of the plant and the characters of its flowers remain 

 to be recorded. 



From its New Zealand congeners it is readily recognized ; thus 

 Myrsine salicina differs already in the elongated form of its leaves 

 and the comparatively long-stalked egg-shaped' fruits ; M. Urvillei 

 in undulated leaves of different color and smaller fruits ; M. diva- 

 ricata in the smallness of its leaves and depressed drupes ; M. num- 

 mularia (Suttonia nummularia, J. Hook. Flor. Nov. Zeel. i. 173, pi. 

 xlv.) also in the smallness of its leaves and smaller fruit. 



Future investigations however must teach us, how far the adopted 

 distinctive characters may be relied on, and whether not alpine 

 localities and lowland-country will produce forms as different in the 

 species of this genus as in Hymenanthera. 



CONVOLVULACEiE. 



Caltstegia sepium. 



E.. Brown, Prodr. 483 ; A. Eioh. Voy. de 1' Astrolabe, i. 200; J. Hook. Flor. 

 Nov. Zeel. i. 183 ; Fl. Tasman. i. 276 ; Torrey, Flora of New York, ii. 97 ; 

 Miq. Flor. Indise Batav. ii. 624 ; ConTolyulus sepium, Linn^, Spec. 218. 



Chatham-Island and Pitt-Island ; twining around shrubs. 



The plant collected by Mr. Travers presents a transit from the 

 normal form to C. tuguriorura, which species Dr. Hooker (Fl. Nov. 

 Zeel. i 183, t. 47; Convolvulus tuguriorum, Forst. Prodr. 74) upholds 

 chiefly on account of its fulvous seeds. Achilles Richard unhesi- 

 tatingly united the two plants (conf Voy. de I'Astrolabe, i. 200), and 



