47 



Fl. Nov. Zeel. i. 195) belong to the array of forms, for which, to avoid 

 misunderstanding, the collective name V. Forsteri has been now 

 adopted. The forms which it comprises, though in their extremes 

 habitually so dissimilar, are clearly linked together by an uninter- 

 rupted chain of graduations. Other plants either of wide distribu- 

 tion or accommodating themselves to very different conditions of 

 climate or soil are presenting if not analogous at least quite as 

 singular aberrations of forms as may be noticed in V. Forsteri ; as 

 such we may instance Bursaria spinosa, Dodonaaa viscosa, Tetratheca 

 ericifolia, Epilobium tetragonum, Vittadinia cuneifolia, Correa spe- 

 ciosa, Beyera viscosa. Convolvulus erubescens, Samolus repens.' In 

 some of the glacier-forms of V. Forsteri the bracteoles are enlarged, 

 the capsules shortened or the calyces lengthened, and the inflore- 

 scence may become truly spicate or even capitate. In by no means 

 rare instances plants with the small leaves of V. elliptica produce 

 the long racemes of V. salicifolia. In culture the varieties are more 

 constant than usual ; thus the handsome narrow-leaved form, so long 

 acknowledged as a species under the name V. parviflora, has under- 

 gone no change for a series of years in our garden. But the collec- 

 tions of dried plants received from New Zealand exhibit unequivocal 

 transits as well to V. salicifolia as to V. elliptica. What has been 

 effected in changing the color of the flowers of this plant by artificial 

 fecundation of its varieties may also to some extent be effected in 

 Kennedya monophylla. 



UETICE^. 



Urtica incisa. 



Poiret, Tableau Enoyclop^dique, Suppl. 223 ; Weddell in Archives du Mu- 

 seum d'Hist. Nat. Paris, ix. 81 ; J. Hook. Flor. Tasm. i. 343 ; TJ. lucifuga, 

 J. Hook, in Lond. Journ. of Bot. iv. 285 ; Flor. Nov. Zeel. i. 225. 



On the edges of bushy land of Chatham-Island. 



The plant brought by Mr. Travers is broad-leaved and monoecious. 

 The narrow-leaved form occurs in New Zealand, Tasmania and 

 scantily in Australia felix ; the broad-leaved variety is known from 

 the foresi^country of East Gipps-Land and various parts of East 

 Australia as far north at least as the southern boundaries of Queens- 

 land. 



The differences, if really specific, between this plant and the 

 protean U. dioica, which in our collections occurs from many distant 

 parts of the globe, have yet to be further traced. 



