90 
The Queensland Naturalist April, 1945 
Smith (small delicate trailing herb; flowers very showy, 
deep blue — flowers and fruit) ; Mt. Merino, near exposed 
edge of cliff, 3,650 feet, October 4th, 1942, Blake 14652 
(type) (short bushy shrub of about one foot; leaves rather 
pale green; corolla light slightly lavender blue with pale 
throat with yellow mark on lower part — flowers) ; from 
same plant, October 7th, 1944, Blake 15417 (rather bushy 
with rather straggling stems; base woody; leaves green; 
corolla light slightly lavender blue with yellow mark on 
lower lip, throat and tube shading to bluish white — in 
flower) ;i and again from same pant, November 19th, 1944. 
Blake 15456 (flowers). 
A most attractive plant quite distinct from all the 
other Australian species of the genus in the freely 
branched, decumbent and sometimes stoloniform main 
stems, often alternate leaves, the bracts not very different 
from the foliage leaves, and rather loosely arranged 
prominently pedicellate flowers. In floral structure it is 
closest to E. speciosa R.Br. and E. collina R.Br., but like 
the other Australian species these are more scabrous plants- 
with erect, simple or nearly simple stems, strictly opposite 
leaves and subsessile flowers forming terminal spikes with 
the bracts distinctly different from the foliage leaves. It 
differs from all the New Zealand species in the glabrous 
style and ovary. From the two New Guinea species which 
have externally pubescent corollas, equally aristulate 
anther-cells and suffruticose habit it differs in the toothed 
(not 3-lobed) leaves, loose many-flowered inflorescence, 
long pedicels, larger corollas with relatively larger lobes, 
and recurved upper lip, and the glabrous style. From the 
species of the Northern Hemisphere it differs in the similar, 
equally aristulate anther-cells and in habit*. The pedicels 
seem to be longer in this species than in any other. 
1 have seen but two plants of this eyebright. One of 
these was at the summit of Mt. Merino, but it disappeared 
some time between October, 1942 and December, 1943 ; it 
was not particularly studied. All my specimens were 
taken from the second plant, growing at 110 feet below 
the summit. This plant is closely associated with a bush 
of HeHchrysum vagans C. T. White, so closely, in fact, that 
the stoloniferous habit was not noticed at the earlier visits. 
The flowers are variable in size and to some extent in 
colour. No fruits have been found on this plant and the 
description of the capsules has been drawn up from the 
collection of D. A. and L. S. Smith. This collection, with? 
