49 



would probably have been united as varieties of one species, variable 

 according to soil, elevation of locality and other circumstances, as 

 multifarious transitory forms in the collections of Mr. Travers and 

 Dr. Haast at least to some extent appear to prove : Pimelea Gnidia, 

 Banks & Sol. accord, to Meisn. in Candolle Prodr. xiv. 517 ; P. pro- 

 strata, B. & S. 1. c. ; P. pilosa, Willd. Spec. Plant, i. 50 ; P. virgata, 

 Vahl, Enum. Plant, i. 306 ; P. Urvilleana, A. Richard, Voy. de I'As- 

 trolabe, i. 227 ; P. arenaria. All. Cunn. 1. c. ; P. Lyallii, J. Hook. Fl. 

 Nov. Zeel. i. 223 and the plants already reduced to those by Dr. 

 Hooker and Prof. Meisner. 



As pointed out by All. Cunningham P. sericea bears a 'close 

 resemblance to P. arenaria ; but scarcely less so to P. ammocharis 

 (F. M. in Hook. Kew Miscell. 1857, 24.; and in Edinburgh New 

 Philos. Journ. 1863, 233). The latter however has diclinous flowers 

 and the leaves on both pages silky ; the former has stamens and style 

 more distinctly exserted, and both species have seemingly not the 

 succulent fruit ascribed to P. arenaria. 



The number of described species of Pimelea is far in excess of 

 that limited by nature, and much has yet to be learned on their 

 distribution ; thus Pi melea axiflora, a species ascending from the 

 forest-valleys of the lowlands to the glacier-regions, has recently been 

 found in the southern parts of New South Wales and also in King's 

 Island, a dependency of Tasmania. P. microcephala again has been 

 collected by Oldfield on the Murchison-River, to which locality many 

 plants of the Murray-desert are extending. 



POLYGONE^. 



Polygonum minus. 



Hudson, rior. Anglic, first edit. lUS ; Smith, Engl. Flora, ii. 235 ; Kooh, 

 Synops. Flor. German, ii. 712 ; Meian. in Lehm. Plant. Preiss. i. 623 ; 

 Meisn. in Cand. Prodrom. xiv. Ill ; J. Hook. Flor. Tasman. i. 306 ; P. 

 PersicariEB var. Linn. Spec. Plant, i. 518 ; P. strictum, AUioni, Flor. 

 Pedemont. 2051, t. 68, f. 2 ; Meisn. Monograph. Gen. Polygon. 74 ; in 

 Wallich. Plant. Asiat. Rarior. iii. 57 ; Wight, Icon. Plant. Ind. Orient, v. 

 tab. 1800 ; P. decipiens, B. Sr. Prodrom. 420 ; P. prostratum, Ach. Rich. 

 Voy. de 1' Astrolabe, i. 177 ; J. Hook. Flor. Nov. Zeel. i. 209. 



In swampy places of Chatham-Island. 



The plant gathered by Mr. Travers is in incipient inflorescence 

 and so far agrees with the definition of P. minus. The species is 

 widely distributed through extratropical Australia. Notes on the 

 range of several Australian species of this genus are contained in the 



G 



