Myposotis. | BORAGINACEAE. TAS 
3. M. antaretica Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1 (1844) 57, t. 38.—- Root 
perennial, fusiform; rootlets numerous, fibrous. Stems many from the 
root, short, 4-l}in. long, sparingly branched, outer spreading, inner 
ascending or erect, Leaves numerous, the lower sometimes imbricate at 
the base, the upper farther apart; radical larger, #in. long at most, 
obovate-oblong or oblong-spathulate, obtuse, scarcely coriaceous; upper 
surface densely clothed with spreading or appressed stiff white hairs ; 
under-surface much more sparingly covered; cauline leaves smaller and 
narrower, obtuse or subacute. lowers small, zo in. long, axillary, blue ; 
lower shortly pedicelled, upper sessile. Calyx narrow-oblong, densely 
hispid: lobes $ the length of the corolla, linear-subulate. Corolla-tube 
narrow-cylindric ;~ limb flattened, segments rounded-obovate. Coroila- 
scales at the base of the segments, large. Stamens 5; filaments very 
short; anthers ovate, acute, their tips well below the bottom of the 
corolla-scales.—Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 201; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 198 ; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 461 (all in part). 
CAMPBELL IsLAND: Rocky debris at the base of precipices and in clefts on the 
mountains, Hooker, R. M. Laing / 
After careful examination of ali available evidence, I have decided to limit the 
name of antarctica to Hooker’s original plant from Campbell Island. This differs 
(judging from his original description and plate) from the New Zealand plants associated 
with it of late years in the colour of the flowers, which are bright-blue, and in the 
anthers being placed much lower down the corolla-tube than in the New Zealand plant. 
This peculiarity is borne out by an examination of flowers collected by Laing in 
Campbell Island. 
4. M. pygmaea Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 334.—Very variable 
in size, annual or perennial, more or less clothed in all its parts with stiff 
white hairs. Stems few or many from the root, prostrate or decumbent, 
ascending at the tips, usually densely leafy. Radical leaves 4-1} in. long, 
narrow obovate-spathulate or oblong-spathulate, obtuse or apical sessile 
or narrowed into a petiole of variable length, membranous or subcoriaceous ; 
cauline smaller, sessile, often distichous. lowers solitary and axillary, few 
or many to a stem, sessile or nearly so, minute, white or yellowish. Calyx 
cut about half-way down, hispid with long straight hairs, enlarged and open 
in fruit; lobes linear- lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute. Corolla-tube 
variable in length, in some forms barely exceeding the calyx, in others 
almost twice as long, throat with 5 scales; lobes short, rounded. Stamens 
included ; anther-tips usually reaching to the level of the corolla- scales, 
Nutlets ovoid, acute, compressed, shining, black or nearly so.—WM. antarctica 
of Hook. f. and other writers, so far as strictly N.Z. specimens are con- 
eerned. M. Trailiui 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 3738. 
Star, Ttanrt. Ye. 6S. 
Norra anv Sours Istanps, Srewart Istanp : Not uncommon from the Auckland 
Isthmus southwards, usually in dry rocky places. Sea-level to 5000 ft. November— 
February. 
An extremely variable little plant. Specimens from dry alpine localities are often 
densely tufted, almost pulvinate, and are usually clothed with long villous hairs. On 
the other hand, I have specimens from shaded places near the Waimakariri Glacier 
with slender prostrate sparingly leafy stems 6in. long, with radical leaves 2 in. long, 
Mr. Kirk’s subspecies T'raillia does not seem to me to differ in any essential particular 
from Colenso’s M. pygmaea, and as that name is entitled to priority I have adopted 
it here to distinguish both M. pygmaea and M. T'raillit from the Campbell Island 
M. antarctica, which should rank as a separate species. 
Var. Qlauca s+T. 72 x 26.VUiaaus ) 
nem 
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