117 
Hybridism in the New Zealand Flora 
with the distinct G. oppositifolia, and at once hybrids appear in 
plenty. Cheeseman {Manual, p. 407) suggests a hybrid origin for 
G. fagifolia, a conclusion not to be disputed by anyone who has seen 
the parents separate and afterwards side by side with the numerous 
distinct intermediates. 
(b) Olearia arborescens x capillaris. 
Under the designation 0 . capillaris Buch. has been grouped a 
series of plants differing considerably in their characters and merging 
eventually into 0 . arborescens, so that there is every feature of a 
hybrid group. Possibly the individuals with the smallest leaves and 
sparse-flowered small corymbs are 0 . capillaris, or it may be that 
the group consists of more than one jordanon. 0 . arborescens extends 
from about latitude 38° to Stewart Island, but 0 . capillaris is con¬ 
fined—so far as is known—to Mt Egmont, the Volcanic Plateau, the 
Northwestern Botanical District and the north of the Western 
Botanical District east of the Dividing Range, and generally its 
occurrence is quite local. 
(c) Celmisia coriacea x Traversii (= x C. Morrisonii Cockayne). 
For a full discussion and description of this hybrid see Trans. 
N.Z.Inst. 47, pp. 116-17,1915. Since that time I have seen hundreds 
of x C. Morrisonii as a member of an indigenous-induced herb-field 
on Mount Miromiro (Northeastern Botanical District), at about 
3000 ft. altitude, where the Nothofagus forest had been burnt. In 
numbers the hybrid equalled the parents. Here again the action of 
man has increased a hybrid population and extended its range. 
5. Hybrids between species usually growing under dissimilar 
ecological conditions which occasionally come together.- 
This class contains 42 hybrids. The conditions under which they 
are produced are far from uniform. In some cases the habitats of 
the two parents (< e.g. in the species of Nothofagus ) are not very 
different, but on the other hand the differences may be wide and 
the chance of hybridisation remote {e.g. Plagianthus betulinus x 
divaricatus —rich alluvial soil, the one, salt swamp, the other); the 
hybrids may be abundant (as when the two species of Phormium 
meet), or very rare as in Angelica decipiens x montana ; or, again, 
the certainty of what are and what are not hybrids may be masked 
by the presence of varietal hybrids {e.g. in the hybrids of the species 
of Coriaria). Many of this class of hybrids well deserve discussion, 
but only five cases can be dealt with here. 
