628 HALORAGIDACEAR. [Gunnera. 
rarely simple; upper 2 or more male, lower 4 female. Male flowers 
sessile on the branches or very shortly pedicelled, each with 2 narrow 
concave deciduous bracts. Sepals 2, minute, linear. Stamens 2; filaments 
often as long as the small broadly oblong obtuse anthers. Female 
flowers: Calyx-lobes 2, minute. Styles very long and slender, filiform. 
Persistent fruiting portion of the peduncle shorter than the leaves, often 
inclined. Drupes small, sessile, ovoid-globose, red or yellow, about 4, in. 
long.—Students’ Fl. (1899) 152; Schindler in Pflanzenr. Heft 23 (1905) 
109. G. microcarpa T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii (1895) 153; 
Students’ Fl. (1899) 153; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 154. G. ovata 
Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv (1893) 274 (an part). 
SoutH Isnanp: Otago and Southland, not uncommon, 7. Waugh! Petrie! B.C. 
Aston ! December—January. 
In the first edition of this work I pointed out that Kirk’s two species G. mixta and 
G. microcarpa are one and the same plant, G. mixta being founded mainly on flowering 
specimens, and G. microcarpa on fruiting. 1 selected microcarpa as the name to be kept; 
but in the meantime Schindler, who in his monograph of the family had come to a 
similar conclusion, had adopted the name of G. mixta, which under the law of priority 
must be retained. The distinguishing characters of the species are the tall slender 
lax-flowered usually branched flowering stems, the upper part of which is male and 
the lower female; the small broad anthers, on rather long filaments; and the small 
almost globose drupe. It is probably a widely distributed plant. 
4. G. prorepens Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 66.—Very variable in 
size, according to locality and surroundings. Rhizome stout or slender, 
putting out stolons 4-8in. long or more. Leaves rosulate, crowded ; 
petioles 1-6 in. long, slender, glabrous or sparingly pilose; blade 4-2 in. 
long, ovate to elliptic-ovate or oblong, cordate or rounded or truncate at 
the base, obtuse, crenate or sinuate-crenate or almost entire, submem- 
branous, glabrous or slightly hairy. Flowers unisexual, dioecious, spicate 
at the top of a long slender peduncle varying in length from 1 to 8 in. 
and naked below. Male fiowers Jaxly placed on short pedicels, each 
pedicel with a lmear bract at the base and 2 linear cucullate deciduous 
bracteoles just under the flower. Sepals 2, subulate. Stamens 2; fila- 
ments very short. Female flowers more densely placed, on a shorter 
peduncle which lengthens during the ripening of the fruit. Calyx-teeth 2, 
short; styles 2, thick and fleshy. Fruiting-peduncles usually exceeding 
the leaves, often coloured and somewhat fleshy. Drupes } in. long, red or 
yellowish or glaucous, obconie or nearly globose—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
68 (excl. var. b); Schindler in Pflanzenr. Heit 23 (1905) 116; TZ. Kirk 
Students’ Fl. (1899) 153; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 155. G. flavida 
Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii (1886) 260. G. ovata Petrie in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xxv (1893) 274 (in part). in tla ven OH 
{ ‘ 
NortuH Istanp: Hilly and subalpine wet localities from the Lower Waikato south- 
wards. SournH Isuanp, Stewart Istanp: Not uncommon in Sphagnum swamps 
throughout. Sea-level to 3500 ft. 
I have followed the Kew authorities and Dr. Schindler in uniting Colenso’s 
G, flavida with G@. prorepens. The difference between the two plants is purely one of 
size, and they can be traced into one another in many localities. 
5. G. densiflora Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 68.—Rhizome short, 
stout, creeping, rooting at the nodes, 2-4in. long. Leaves clustered at 
the nodes and forming rosettes 2-4 in. across; petiole 1-14 in. long, as long 
or longer than the blade, slightly concave above, rounded beneath, densely 
