Gentiana. | GENTIANACEAE. 731 
the tip. Ovary stipitate-—Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 449. G. saxosa 
var. y Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 191. G. pleurogynoides var. rigida 7’. Kirk 
Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii (1895) 335. 
Sourn IstAnp: Mountain districts from Nelson to Otago, abundant. 1000- 
4000 ft. January—March. 
A very handsome plant, in its ordinary state well distinguished by the stout usually 
simple and almost naked stems, long and narrow crowded rosulate radical leaves, and 
dense cymes or umbels of large white flowers, the calyx of which is broad and short, 
with lanceolate-deltoid acute lobes. Mr. Brown informs me that it corresponds with 
the G. saxosa var. y of the Handbook, and I suspect that it also includes a part of the 
G. pleurogynoides of the same work. At any rate, it is the plant which New Zealand 
botanists have been accustomed to call G. pleurogynoides. The true G. pleurogynoides 
was founded on Tasmanian specimens, and has* not yet been satisfactorily matched 
with any New Zealand plant. 
12. G. serotina Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii (1915) 118.—Annual 
or biennial, 5-9 in. high. Stems simple or forked at the base, terete, strict, 
erect, furnished on each side with a ridge decurrent from the base of the 
leaves, purplish-red. Radical leaves usually few, rosulate, 4-14 1n. long, 
narrow linear-spathulate, obtuse at the tip, gradually narrowed into a long: 
petiolate base. Cauline leaves in 2-4 remote opposite pairs, sessile, connate 
at the base, 4-1 in. long ; margins entire, purplish-brown. Flowers arranged 
in 3-5 terminal umbels, or rarely solitary, about in. diam., white. Calyx 
cut 4- to 2-way down to the base into 4 subulate long acuminate lobes.. 
Corolla ?in. long, 24 times longer than the calyx, deeply cut into 4 obtuse 
lobes, which are shortly mucronate at the tip. 
Soutu Istanp: Probably not uncommon on the eastern side. Marlborough— 
Pelorus Valley, J. H. Macmahon!  Nelson—Hanmer Plains, 7. F, C. Canterbury— 
@ommon in open tussock country of the upper plains, Malvern Hills, &c., Cockayne ! 
Otago—Locality not stated, Buchanan! WHawea Flat, Petrie! © March—April. 
This appears to be a reduced state of G. corymbifera, of which it has the remarkable 
calyx. It differs from G. patula in its much smaller size and more slender habit, smaller 
and narrower flowers, &c. “Ay Te 
13. G. patula,Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 449.—Usually perennial ; 
root stout or slender. Stems one or several from the root, often decumbent 
at the base, erect above, simple or branched, 5—20in. high. Radical leaves 
usually numerous, 1-3 in. long, oblong-spathulate or lanceolate-spathulate, 
rarely broader and ovate-spathulate, acute or obtuse, coriaceous or slightly 
membranous. Cauline leaves in 1-5 opposite, pairs, oblong or linear- 
oblong or lanceolate, sessile. Flowers large, ?-1in. diam., white, in few- 
or many-flowered terminal umbels or corymbose cymes. Calyx divided 
nearly #-way down; lobes linear-oblong, acute or obtuse. Corolla deeply 
divided; lobes oblong or broadly oblong, rounded at the tip.—G. saxosa 
var. 8 Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 191. G. bellidifolia var. patula 
T. Kirk wm Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii (1895) 336. 
'Nortu Isnanp: Mount Holdsworth, Tararua Range, W. T’ownson ! Mount Hector, 
Petrie! Soura Istanp: Abundant in mountain districts throughout. 1000-4000 ft. 
January—March. 
A very variable plant. What may be regarded as the typical state has a stout 
fusiform root often shortly branched at the top, each branch bearing a crown of oblong- 
spathulate radical leaves and a flowering stem 6-18in. high. Dwarf specimens are 
-undistinguishable from G. bellidifolia ; but usually the stems are much taller, giving 
the plant quite a different appearance, and the flowers are much more numerous. Other 
states approach G. montana, G. corymbifera, and G. Townsoni ~ and small copiously 
branched forms appear to pass into G. divisa. 
