22 v. pittosporEjE. [Pittosporum. 
of FI. N. Z., as a different species, but with some doubts ; better specimens are wanted of 
both. 
Order VI. CARY OPH YLLE2E. 
Herbs, with opposite, quite entire or minutely serrulate leaves. Flowers 
hermaphrodite. Sepals 4 or 5, free or connate, imbricate. Petals 4 or 5 or 
0, hypogynous or perigynous. Stamens 4, 5, 8, or 10, inserted with the 
petals, sometimes seated on or between the lobes of an annular disk. Ovary 
1-celled, bearing many (rarely few) ovules on a free central or basal placenta ; 
styles 2-5, free or connate, stigmatose at the apex or inner face. Capsule 
many-seeded, splitting into as many, or twice as many, valves as styles. 
Seeds with farinaceous albumen, and a usually curved terete embryo. 
A very large Order, abounding in temperate and cold climates, of which a few foreign 
species are shrubby. 
Tribe I. Silenese . — Sepals connate into a tubular calyx. 
Calyx turbinate or campauulate. Stamens 10. Styles 2 1. Gypsophila. 
Tribe II. Alsinese . — Sepals free. 
Petals bifid. Styles 3. Stipules 0 2. Stellaria. 
Petals 0. Styles 4 to 5. Stipules 0 3. Colobanthus. 
Petals entire. Styles 3. Stipules scarious 4. Spergularia. 
1. GYPSOPHILA, Linn. 
Annual (or perennial) herbs, with small paniculate flowers. — Calyx more or 
less campanulate, 5-fid, usually 5-nerved. Petals 5, with a narrow claw, and 
entire or emarginate blade. Stamens 10, at the base of a small torus. Ovary 
many-ovuled ; styles 2. Capsules ovoid or globose, 4-5-valved. Seeds 
laterally attached. 
A large S. European genus, of which the following is the only representative in the 
southern hemisphere. 
1. G. tubulosa, Boiss.; — FI. N. Z. ii. 325. A small, much dichoto- 
mously-branched, glandular- pubescent annual, 4-5 in. high ; stems slender, 
terete, erect. Leaves subulate, hardly acute, rigid. Peduncles slender, axil- 
lary, 1 -flowered, ■§— | in. long, diverging in fruit. Flowers small, £ in. long. 
Calyx tubular-campanulate, with 5 green ribs, 5-toothed. Petals narrow, 
linear, retuse or bifid, longer than the calyx. Capsule 5-valved at the tip, 
exserted. Seeds transversely rugose, with deep impressions. 
Northern Island: east coast, Ahuriri, Raukawa, Cape Palliser, and Hawke’s Bay, Colenso. 
Middle Island : Rangitata valley, Sinclair and Haast. Tarudale plain, 4000 ft., Travers. 
Moraines round Lake Ckau, amongst grass, Haast ; Otago, abundant everywhere in grassy 
plains, Hector and Buchanan. Not uncommon in South Australia, where it was discovered 
by Brown. Originally described from Asia Minor, and found nowhere but in that country, 
Australia, and New Zealand; it is worth observing whether it is rapidly increasing, for if so 
it is probably an importation. 
2. STELLARIA, Linn. 
Erect or decumbent herbs, annual (or perennial), with flat or acerose leaves, 
and axillary or fascicled white flowers. Sepals 5, spreading. Petals 5, bifid, 
or 0. Stamens 10 or fewer, hypogynous, or seated on an annular disk. Styles 
