% * 
1012 COMPOSITAE. [ Senecio. 
petiolate, $-lin. long, ovate or spathulate, glabrous above, crenate. Heads solitary, 
din. long, on slender bracteate peduncles ; involucral bracts 15-20, linear, obtuse, 
cottony.—Mount Jollie, Rangitata district, alt. 4500 ft. 
S. Christensenii Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xlix (1917) 60 is a species described 
from a single imperfect specimen gathered by Mr. C. E. Christensen on the Leslie Hills, 
Hanmer. Through the kindness of Dr. Cockayne I have had an opportunity of 
examining the type, which must clearly be placed in the neighbourhood of S. lagopus ; 
but the specimen is much too incomplete to warrant any further conclusions. 
S. dimorphocarpos Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvi (1894) 316 is S. jacobaea Linn., 
the common ragwort of the Northern Hemisphere, which has become naturalized in 
wany districts in both the North and South Islands. It is a tall almost glabrous 
perennial 2-4 ft. high, with irregularly pinnatifid or 2-pinnatifid leaves 2-6 in. long, 
a dense corymb of rather large heads 3-1 in. diam., bright-yellow rays, and glabrous 
ribbed achenes. 
S. areolatus Col. lc. 317 is S. sylvaticus Linn., another common northern plant 
which has become established in New Zealand. An annual slightly glandular-pubescent 
herb 1-3 ft. high, with irregularly pinnatifid leaves 1-3 in. long, loose corymbs cf 
small heads 4in. diam., with very short revolute rays and silky ribbed achenes. 
Several other species of Senecio have hecome naturalized, the most widely dis- 
tributed being 8. vulgaris Linn., the common groundsel, which can be recognized by 
its small size, 6-12 in. high, succulent grooved stems often branched irom the base, 
irregularly pinnatifid or toothed leaves, small cylindric heads with the florets all 
tubular and hermaphrodite, and an involucre of about 20 equal bracts. 
1. S. saxifragoides Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 144. — Root- 
stock short, stout, as thick as the thumb, densely clothed with soft 
brownish wool. Leaves all radical, spreading; blade 3-7 in. long, 3-5 in. 
distance within them; under-surface densely covered with thick white 
tomentum; but both surfaces glabrate and rugose when old; _ petioles 
stout, clothed with long white hairs mixed with purplish bristles. Scapes 
1-14 ft. high, stout, branched, densely covered with white woolly tomentum 
copiously mixed with purplish jointed hairs tipped with purplish-black 
glands; bracts linear or linear-oblong, white and woolly. Heads 4-12, 
3_]1in. diam.; involucral bracts linear, acute, tomentose and glandular. 
Achenes linear, grooved, glabrous, 4in. long—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
159; ZT. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 339; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 
372; A. Wall in Trans. N.Z. Inst. 1 (1918) 198. 
SoutH Isnanp: Canterbury—Rocky places on the Port Hills, to the north-west of 
Port Lyttelton, stretching from Cooper's Knob to Mount Pleasant, Lyall, Haast ! 
T. Kirk! T. F. C., A. Wall! and many others. Reported from Kaikoura Peninsula 
by H. J. Matthews, but specimens not in a satisfactory state. January—March. 
A very handsome plant, but one which can with difficulty be separated from large 
states of 8. lagopus. Previous writers, while acknowledging the close relationship of 
the two species, have until quite lately agreed in considering that S. saxifragoides could 
always be separated from S. lagopus by wanting the stiff bristles (glandular hairs) 
usually so plentiful on the upper surface of the leaves of that plant. But Professor A. 
Wall, in a memoir entitled ‘‘ On the Distribution of Senecio saxifragoides and its Relations 
to Senecio lagopus”? (Trans. N.Z. Inst. 1 (1918) 198) has brought forward a great mass 
of evidence satisfactorily proving that although the bristles are occasionally absent 
in S. saxifragoides, yet they are present in many plants of that species. They are not, 
however, distributed over almost the whole surface, as in S. lagopus, but usually oceur 
all round the margin, or occupy.an area of variable width just within it. I am indebted 
to Professor Wall for giving me full opportunities of examining the material upon which 
his conclusions are based. 
