76 XXIX. ON AGRAHIEiE. [ Fuchsia . 
stigma globose. Berry oblong, fleshy. — Bot. Beg. t. 857.; Skinnera excor- 
ticata, Forst. 
Damp wood3 throughout the islands, abundant, Hanks and Solander, etc. The wood, 
which is soft and useless, contains much tannic and gallic acids, Buchanan. A small form, 
found at Otago by Lindsay and Hector, has much smaller and broader leaves, approaching 
F. procumbens. 
2. P. procumbens, JR. Cimn. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 57. A procumbent, 
scarcely shrubby plant, with prostrate, slender branches. Leaves small, l 
in. long, as long as or shorter than the very slender petioles, broadly ovate or 
orbicular, cordate or rounded at the base, acute, very obscurely toothed. 
Flowers as in F. excorticata , but usually smaller. — Hook. Ic. PI. t. 421. 
Damp forests iu the Ifforthern Island, from the east coast southward. Middle Island : 
Canterbury plains, Travers. The extreme forms of this and the former differ greatly, but I 
have apparently intermediate states. 
2. EPILOBIUM, Linn. 
Perennial herbs. Stem sometimes woody below, creeping prostrate or 
erect from a decumbent base. Leaves opposite or alternate, exstipulate, usually 
toothed. Flowers often drooping in bud, then erect, white pink rosy or 
purplish, axillary or subterminal. — Calyx-tube very long, adnate with the 
tetragonous ovary ; limb of 4 deciduous lobes. Petals 4, spreading, obovate 
or obcordate. Stamens 8, perigynous. Ovary 4-celled ; style short, stigma 
obliquely clavate (4-cleft in some European species) ; ovules very numerous. 
Capsule very long, linear, splitting into 4 recurved, slender valves, very 
many-seeded. Seeds small, with a pencil of white hairs at the tip. 
A very large genus in almost all temperate climates, rare in the tropics, especially abound- 
ing in New Zealand. The species are, without exception of locality or country, extremely 
variable, and probably hybridize. I have repeatedly studied the New Zealand ones, many of 
which completely puzzle me. The following descriptions represent in .many cases perhaps 
prevalent forms rather than species ; and the student will certainly find intermediates between 
most of them. J t is useless attempting to name many species, till copious suites of specimens 
are collected, the characters being to a great extent comparative. 
* Small, glabrous species, 1-0 in. long. Branches prostrate and creeping, their tips only 
ascending. Leaves all opposite, uniform in size. Flowers few, chief y from the 
axils of leaves remote from, the ends of the branches. 
Leaves y in., subsessile, scarcely toothed 1 . F. nummularifolium. 
Leaves -j in., oblong or orbicular, coriaceous, purple below . . 2. E. purpuratum. 
Leaves 4 in., petioled, orbicular, sharply toothed 3. E. linnaoides. 
Leaves | in., oblong, obscurely toothed 4. E. macropus. 
** Small alpine and subalpine, glabrous, glossy species. Branches creeping, ascending at 
the tips, rarely suberect. Leaves all opposite, nearly uniform, obtuse, coriaceous, nerve- 
less. Floioers few , usually small, from towards the tips of the branches. 
Leaves 3—3 in., oblong, sinuate-toothed. Flowers small . . 5. E. confertifolium. 
Leaves 1 in., subsessile, spathulate-oblong. Flowers rather large 6. E. crassum. 
Leaves 1 in., petioled, narrow oblong, subacute 7. E. brevipes. 
*** Small, slender, usually prostrate, lowland species. Branches ascending or suberect. 
Leaves opposite or upper alternate (not glossy), A-l in. long. Flowers towards the 
ends of the branches, usually numerous and small. 
Leaves -g—y in., petioled. Flowers very small. Peduncles of 
fruit long 
8. E. alsinoides. 
