Stellar ia.~\ 
vi. caryophvllea:. 
23 
3 ; ovules few or many. Capsule globose oblong or ovoid, splitting into 3 
bifid or 6 valves. Seeds often muricate. 
A very large genus in Britain, and the temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres 
generally. 
Creeping. Leaves suborbicular. Sepals subulate 1 . S. parviflora. 
Minute, creeping or ascending. Leaves oblong or linear 2. S. elatinoides. 
Decumbent. Leaves ovate or obovate. Sepals blunt 3. S. decipiens. 
Erect. Sepals very large. Leaves linear 4. S. Roughii. 
Erect, rigid. Leaves acerose, with recurved margins 5. S. gradient a. 
1. S. parviflora, Banks and Sol. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 25. A very slender, 
pale green, flaccid herb, with prostrate, wiry, creeping stems and branches, a 
span long and upwards, wholly glabrous except a few hairs on the petioles. 
Leaves £— §■ in. long, nearly orbicular, acute, rarely cordate at the base, 
longer than the petioles. Peduncles axillary, shorter than the leaves, 1- 
2-flowered, 2-bracteolate about the middle. Flowers minute, y 1 ^ in. diam. 
Sepals 5, subulate-lanceolate or oblong, acuminate, with white scarious mar- 
gins. Petals 0 or 5, shorter than the petals. Stamens 5 or 10. Capsule as 
long or longer than the sepals, 6-valved to the middle. Seeds about 8, pale 
brown, deeply pitted and reticulated. 
Northern and Middle Islands : not uncommon in woods, Banks and Solander, etc. ; 
and ascending to 5000 ft. on the Wairau mountains, Travers. Allied to the Tasmanian 
S. flaccida. 
2. S. elatinoides, Hook.f. FI. N. Z. i. 25. A very small, glabrous, 
tufted, pale-green herb. Steins 1 in. long, erect or creeping, very slen- 
der or rather stout. Leaves T l y~i in. long, oblong or linear, subacute, nar- 
rowed into a short petiole. Flowers yy in. diam., axillary, solitary, sessile 
or on short peduncles, large for the size of the plant. Sepals ovate-lanceo- 
late or subulate, acuminate, with white scarious margins. Petals 0. Sta- 
mens 5 or 10. Capsule globose, as long as the sepals, 6-valved to the 
middle. Seeds 2-6, large, grossly tubercled. 
Northern Island : grassy banks on the east coast, Cape Kidnapper, Hawke’s Bay, Lake 
Rotoatara, etc., Colenso. Closely allied to the Tasmanian S. multiflora. Hook., but much 
smaller in all its parts, and with flowers sessile or almost so. 
3. S. decipiens, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 27. A glabrous, laxly tufted, 
weak, decumbent, pale green, branching herb. Leaves y— J in. long, ovate 
or obovate, acuminate, narrowed into a broad, somewhat ciliate petiole. 
Peduncles axillary, 1-3-flowered, 2-bracteolate in the middle, shorter or 
longer than the leaves. Flowers larger than in S. parviflora and elatinoides. 
Sepals oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute, quite glabrous. Petals 0 or 5, small. 
Stamens variable. 
Lord Auckland’s group and Campbell’s Island. The Northern Island plant without 
flower, referred here in El. N. Z., is more probably a form of S. parviflora. Closely allied 
to the S. media of Europe, which is naturalized abundantly in some parts of New Zealand, 
but differing in the axillary 1-flowered peduncles, and absence of a pubescent line on the 
branches. Also allied to the Tasmanian S. flaccida, but the flowers ai'c much smaller, pe- 
duncles short, and sepals glabrous and not acuminate. 
4. S. Roughii, Hook.f., n. sp. A short, much-branched, glabrous, suc- 
culent, erect or straggling green herb, 2-4 in. high. Leaves | in. long, 
fleshy, linear, acuminate, 1 -nerved. Flowers large, y-f in. diam., terminal, 
