Epilobium. | ONAGRACEAE. 599 
1. EPILOBIUM Linn. 
Herbs; stems erect or decumbent or creeping, sometimes hard and 
almost woody at the base. Leaves alternate or opposite, entire or toothed. 
Flowers rose-coloured or purple or white, solitary in the upper axils or 
forming a terminal raceme or spike. Calyx-tube scarcely produced beyond 
the ovary, linear, 4-angled or nearly terete; limb 4-partite, deciduous. 
Petals 4, obovate or obcordate, spreading or erect, Stamens 8, the 4 
alternate ones shorter. Ovary inferior, 4-celled; style filiform; stigma 
clavate or with 4 spreading or erect lobes; ovules numerous, 2-serlate, 
ascending. Capsule elongate, 4-angled, 4-celled and 4-valved, the valves 
separating and curving back from a central seed-bearing axis. Seeds 
numerous, broadest above, the summit furnished with a tuft of long hairs. 
A large genus in the temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres ; rare in the 
tropics, except on high mountains; more abundant in New Zealand than in any other 
part of the world. Species variously estimated by authors, from 60 to nearly 200. 
The species of Epilobiwm are well known to be highly variable in any country that 
they inhabit, but in New Zealand the amount of variation is inordinately great, making 
it difficult to affix limits to many of the species, which appear to merge gradually into 
one another. In the arrangement of the New Zealand forms I have for the most part 
followed Professor Haussknecht’s elaborate and beautifully illustrated monograph, but 
I have been unable to accept the whole of the species he has proposed, several of them 
appearing to me to rest on characters much too trival or inconstant. The beginner 
will find it most difficult to identify any of the species with certainty, and his only safe 
course is to collect copious suites of specimens and to defer all attempts to name them 
until he has gained a clear idea of the prevalent forms and their characters. 
A. Similes. Stems tall, erect, herbaceous, slightiy woody at the base. Flowers numerous, 
towards the ends of the branches. 
* Leaves sessile or nearly so. 
Tall, often 3 ft. or even more. Leaves lanceolate or linear- 
lanceolate. Flowers numerous, large, 4-3? in. diam., white 1. BE. pallidiflorwm. 
Slender, 1-3 ft. Leaves distant, ovate-oblong. Flowers few, | 
large, 4-4 in., white. Seeds smooth mae a3 .. 2. H. chionanthum. 
Stout, }-2 ft. Leaves close-set, ovate or ovate-oblong. Flowers 
small, 4-2 in. diam., red Ss ne bes .. oo HH. Billardierranum. 
Tall, stout, 2-5 ft. Leaves linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceo- 
late. Flowers small, + in. long., reddish-purple .. 4. H. erectum. 
Strict, erect, much branched, 6-18 in. or more; clothed with 
greyish-white pubescence. Leaves linear, with remote den- 
ticles. Flowers smal], reddish .. a sh .. 5. H. gunceum. 
Tall, erect, 14-3 ft., villous with long spreading hairs mixed with 
_ short erect ones. Leaves lanceolate, irregularly denticulate. 
Flowers purplish Ye: rai Hi .. 6. H. hirtigerum. 
** Leaves distinctly petiolate. 
Slender, 4-2 ft. Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, membranous. 
Flowers 4-} in., white or pink .. ~ ah .. 7. EB. pubens. 
B. Microphyllae. Stems small, slender, herbaceous, creeping below, erect or ascending 
towards the tips. Flowers few, towards the ends of the branches. 
* Fruiting-peduncles short, seldom exceeding the leaves. 
Forming matted patches 2-8 in. diam. ; stems bifariously pubes- 
cent. Leaves nearly sessile, close-set, often imbricate, 1-4 in. 
long, fleshy, oblong-obovate. Flowers bright-pink .. 8. E. confertifoliwm. 
Forming matted patches 2-5 in. diam.; stems not bifariousl 
pubescent. Leaves shortly petiolate, spreading, ovate-oblong, 
4-1 in. long, pale-green. Flowers few, white or pink .. 9. EB. tasmanicum. 
Stems 3-l0in., ascending. Leaves linear-oblong, coarsely 
toothed, blotched, 4-$in. long. Capsules evenly hoary- 
pubescent a 2 r. ne . 10. E. pictum. 
