151 
NOTICE OF THE DISCOVERY OF MONOCLE A 
FORSTERI , Hook., IN NEW ZEALAND. 
By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 
In “ Flora Novae- Zelandise ” and “ The Handbook of the New 
Zealand Flora,” a plant of general distribution in this country is 
doubtfully described, in the absence of fruit, as Dumortiera 
hirsuta , Nees, the specimens apparently differing from that 
plant only in their larger size. Fruiting specimens recently 
obtained near Yv^ellington show that it is the long-lost Mono- 
clea forsteri, Hook. # (Anthoceros univalvis , G.E. Forst., MS.), 
all our knowledge of which was obtained from Forster’s 
original specimens, and we were even destitute of exact informa- 
tion as to the locality in which it was collected. 
Monoclea is a monotypic genus, and with Calobryum forms a 
section of Hepaticce characterised by the solitary unilocular 
sporangium destitute of a columella, and having the elaters 
carried away with the spores. 
The thick, fleshy, irregularly-lobed and imbricated fronds of 
this common plant are so well known to every New Zealand 
botanist as to need no description. Fructification springing from 
cavities in the substance of the frond, tumid on the under surface, 
and opening by slits on the upper surface near the margin. 
Peduncles 1-3 in each cavity, 1-1^ inch long, succulent, white or 
yellowish, the base of each surrounded by a delicate, stipitate, 
tubular perianth -§~| inch long, with a two-lobed mouth, the lobes 
jagged or rarely lacerate, not extending beyond the cavity. 
Peduncle consisting of two separate tubes closely fitting one 
within the other. Capsule oblong-cylindrical, coriaceous, faintly 
striated, sub-erect or inclined, dehiscing longitudinally, at length 
expanding into an oblong flattened valve, coarsely striated 
within. Columella 0. Elaters and spores forming a densely 
matted dark-brown mass; elaters vermiform, with intersecting 
spiral bands; spores globose, minutely punctate. 
The capsule is at first erect, but becomes inclined or even 
horizontal in dehiscence. 
Our plant is frequently found growing in situations where it 
must be submerged for the greater part of the year ; in places of 
this kind its fronds are perfectly flat and less coriaceous than in the 
usual state. 
The fruiting condition appears to be remarkably local ; my 
specimens were obtained from the head of a gully running into 
the Kaiwarawara. Mr. Buchanan has collected fruiting specimens 
at Wainuiomata; these are the only instances of its being found 
in fruit, since its discovery, most probably in the South Island, by 
Forster more than a century ago. It appears to fruit only during 
the spring months, October and November. 
* “Musci Exotici,” ii., p. 174. 
