Claytonia . ] 
VII. POBTULACEiE. 
27 
creeping, rather succulent, tender herb, extremely variable in size. Leaves 
solitary or in distant pairs, narrow-linear or linear-spathulate, £-2 in. long, 
quite entire, pale green, obtuse, nerveless, the petioles dilating into mem- 
branous stipules at the base. Scapes axillary, solitary, 1 -flowered, erect, 
usually shorter than the leaves. Mowers pure white, very variable in size, 
i in. diam. — Hook. Ic. PI. t. 293. 
Middle Island: boggy places, probably common; Milford Sound, Lyall ; Otago, 
Lindsay; near Lake Tennyson, Mating ; Southern Alps, JIaast ; Mount Alta, ascending 
to 5000 feet, Hector and Buchanan. 
2, MONTIA, Linn. 
A small, annual, branched or simple, usually tufted, glabrous herb, with 
opposite, rather fleshy, spathulate leaves, and small, white, axillary, peduncled 
flowers. — Sepals 2 (rarely 3). Petals 5, connate at the base. Stamens 
usually 3 or 5, opposite the petals and adnate to them. Ovary and capsule 
as in Claytonia , but only 1—3 -seeded. 
A British genus, found in many parts of the north and south temperate zone. 
1. M. fontana, Linn. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 74. A glabrous, slender, branching, 
weak, bright green marsh or water plant, very variable in size. Stems 1-12 
in. high. Leaves J-l in. long, from elliptical ovate to linear-lanceolate, sub- 
acute, quite entire. Flowers about ■§■ in. broad. 
Common in watery places throughout the alpine parts of the northern and the Middle 
Islands, and in Campbell’s Island; also found in Tasmania, Kerguelen’s Laud, and 
throughout temperate Western North America and South America, etc. ; Europe, Labrador, 
and Greenland, but not in eastern temperate North America, central Asia, nor in the Hima- 
laya. 
3. HECTOBELLA, Hook, f., n. g. 
A small, densely tufted, glabrous, moss-like plant. Leaves most densely 
imbricated all round the stem, coriaceous, entire. Flowers almost sessile 
amongst the uppermost leaves, white.— -Sepals 2, short,' concave, truncate, 
continuous with the very short, broad, flat pedicel. Petals 5, united at the 
very base, erect, veined, obtuse, thickened below the tip. Stamens 5, inserted 
on the tube of the corolla, alternate with its petals ; filaments as long as the 
petals ; anthers linear-oblong, 2-celled. Ovary ovoid, membranous, veined, 
narrowed into an erect style ; stigmas 1-3, linear, thickened, papillose in- 
ternally ; ovules 4-5, erect from the base of the cell, amphitropous, funicle 
slender. Fruit unknown. 
A remarkable genus, allied to no other, hut approaching in habit Lyallia of Kerguelen’s 
Land. Named in compliment to Dr. Hector, F.G.S., during whose adventurous expedition 
to the Otago alps it was discovered. 
1. H. csespitosa, HooJc.f. Stems 1-1^ in. high, most densely tufted, 
and with the leaves on them nearly as thick as the little finger. Leaves ex- 
cessively numerous and closely imbricate, spreading, broadly triangular-ovate, 
| in. long, much dilated and membranous below the middle, coriaceous above 
with thickened margins and keel ; veins reticulated. Flowers several from 
amongst the leaves at the tips of the stems, nearly | in. long, white. 
Middle Island : Otago, Lake district, alt. 4-6000 feet, Hector and Buchanan. 
