M'echtiies.] 
XXXIX. COMPOSITE. 
157 
inerous, on very slender pedicels, each 3 - in. long ; involucral scales green 
with white margins. Achenes slender, grooved. — Senecio, A. Eich. 
Not uncommon in moist woods, etc., throughout the islands, Banks and Solander, etc. 
A common S. Australian and Tasmanian plant. 
2. E. arguta, DC.; — FI. N. Z. i. 142. A stout, erect herb, 1-2 ft. 
high, more or less cottony, especially on the leaves below. Leaves 2-4 in. 
long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, irregularly pinnatifid and toothed, sessile 
and auricled at the base. Heads corymbose, numerous, small ; florets 1 in. 
long ; involucral scales cottony below, shorter than the florets. Achene 
short, grooved, hispidulous. — Senecio argutus, A. Eich. 
Common throughout the islands. Banks and Solander, etc. Abundant in Tasmania and 
Southern Australia. 
3. E. scaberula, Hook.f., n.sp .; — E. hispidula, FI. N. Z. i. 142, not 
DC. A slender, erect herb, 1-1^ ft. high, hispid all over, except the pedicels 
and involucre. Leaves 1-3 in. long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, toothed or 
pinnatifid, sessile. Heads i in. long, laxly corymbose or divaricating. Achene 
linear, indistinctly grooved, pubescent. 
Northern and Middle Islands : in various places, hut so common as E. arguta and 
quadridentata. This differs from the Tasmanian E. hispidula, in the achene only-Jj in. 
long, and not attenuate at the top, also in the smaller glabrous heads, and short involucral 
scales. 
4. E. quadridentata, DC. ; — El. N.Z.i. 142. A stout species, 1-3 
ft. high, sometimes woody below, more or less covered with cottony wool, 
often snow-white all over. Leaves 2-6 in. long, very narrow linear, margins 
revolute. Heads corymbose, numerous, very narrow, -§• in. long ; involucral 
scales glabrous or cottony. Achene grooved and angled, hispid, — in. long. 
— Senecio quadridentatus, Lab. FI. Nov. Holl. t. 194. 
Abundant throughout the islands, Banks and Solander, etc. Also frequent in Southern 
Australia and Tasmania. 
I have a specimen of another Erechtites from the bed of the Godley river, alt. 3000 ft., 
Haast, apparently differing from any of the above, but too imperfect to determine ; it is 
nearly glabrous, with narrow, linear-obloug, slightly toothed, coriaceous leaves, 1-2 in. long, 
sparingly cottony below, not auricled at base : heads glabrous, immature. 
17. SENECIO, Linn. 
Herbs shrubs or trees, of very various habit. Leaves entire toothed 
lobed or pinnatifid. Flower-heads bracteate at the base, corymbose, rarely 
solitary. — Involucral scales in 1 or 2 rows, linear, erect, herbaceous or coria- 
ceous, rarely scanous, often brown at the tip. Eeceptacle plane or tumid, 
papillose or alveolate. Florets yellow, all similar and hermaphrodite, or the 
outer series female and ligulate ; the inner tubular, campanulate above, her- 
maphrodite. Anthers with very short tails or 0. Pappus of 1 or several 
rows of soft or stiff, smooth or scabrid, equal or unequal, slender or stout 
hairs, sometimes thickened at the tips. Achene linear-oblong, never beaked, 
usually with a thickened disk-like top, terete or grooved. 
One of the largest genera in the vegetable kingdom, found in all parts of the world, and 
containing a multitude of dissimilar, always most variable species. I have classed the New 
