S ceockayn et Stl “Tacs. Ja:s? Lseattavew 
S. benneHi “a EA tt Ganqul c 
Senecio. | COMPOSITAE. 1027 
toothed. Disc-florets numerous, with a 5-toothed campanulate limb. 
Achenes linear, grooved, glabrous. Pappus-hairs white, rigid, scabrid.— 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 162; T. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 350 (an part) ; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 383; Ul. N.Z. Fl. i (1914) t. 114. 
eas 4, ) 
Var. viridis Cheesem. l.c.—Rather taller and not so stout. Leaves 14-3 in. long, 
oblong - obovate, narrowed to the base, not so coriaceous; petioles 4-1 in. long. 
Corymbs larger, 3-6 in. long. Heads much as in the type.—S. viridis 7’. Kirk Le. . 
Nort Istanp : Not uncommon on the mountains from the East Cape and Taupo 
southwards. SoutH Isnanp: Var. viridis: Mountains of Nelson, Marlborough, and 
Canterbury, from Mount Arthur to the Rakaia Valley. 2500-5000 ft. Decem ber- 
January. “T. “Nh -. 6% } 
Mr. Kirk has described the South Island plant as a distinct species under the name 
of S. wridis. It is somewhat larger in all its parts, but differs in no essential character, 
and is far better regarded as a variety only. Specimens of S. Bidwillii collected at the 
foot of Ruapehu by the Rev. F. H. Spencer almost match others gathered in the South 
Island by myself. 
25. TRAVERSIA Hook. f. |\%6 4 
A small erect branching shrub; branchlets more or less . glutinous. 
Leaves alternate, sessile, serrate: venation reticulate. Heads corymbose, 
homogamous, broadly campanulate, 10—12-flowered, bracteolate. Invol- 
ucre of 6-8 broad-oblong, obtuse, erect or spreading, rigid and coriaceous 
scales, campanulate above. Receptacle alveolate. Anthers obtuse, without 
tails. Style-branches truncate, papillose. Pappus of 2 series of very rigid 
unequal scabrid dirty-white hairs. Achenes short, glabrous. 
A genus consisting of a single isolated species, with no near allies. It difters from 
Senecio, as Sir J. D. Hooker has observed, in the rigid pappus and coriaceous involucral 
scales. The leaves are of a very similar type to those of the American genus Baccharis ; 
and their venation, according to Hooker, “recalls that of the Juan Fernandez genera 
Balbisia and Robinsonia.” It appears to me somewhat inexplicable that a plant possess- 
ing the well-marked differences mentioned above should have been reduced to Senecio by 
Hooker and Bentham in the “Genera Plantarum.” I feel sure that botanists generally 
will, when a more detailed examination of the evidence has been made, coincide with 
me in re-establishing 7’raversia as an independent genus. 
1. T. baeeharoides Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 164.—A small 
spreading shrub 1-4 ft. high; perfectly glabrous in all its parts, but the 
young branchlets, leaves, and involucres glutinous; branches slender, 
angled, grooved. Leaves 1$-3 in. long, }-1 in. broad, obovate-lanceolate or 
obovate-spathulate, acute or subacute, gradually narrowed to a sessile and 
decurrent base, serrate, subcoriaceous ; veins thin, subflabellate. Corymbs 
terminal, lax, leafy at the base; peduncles slender, usually forked, with 
sparse linear bracts above. Heads few, 4-4in. diam., discoid and homo- 
gamous ; involucral bracts about 8, in | series, shorter than the florets, 
linear-oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, with broad membranous ciliolate margins. 
Receptacle flat, alveolate. Florets 12-15, all tubular and hermaphrodite ; 
limb campanulate, deeply 5-lobed. Stamens exserted ; anthers not tailed. 
Achenes linear-oblong or linear-obovoid, narrowed at both ends, grooved, 
glabrous. Pappus-hairs in 1 series, rigid, scabrid.—Senecio™ geminatus 
T. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 350; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 384 ; 
fll. N.Z. Fl. i (1914) t. 115. 
Souta Isutanp: Mountains of Nelson, Marlborough, and Canterbury; not un- 
common from Mount Arthur to the Upper Waimakariri. 1500-4500 ft. January— 
February. 
oh 
