a fresh specimen of the plant "raised in England from seed gathered by the missionaries in New Zealand, where it is said to be called Kowhaingutu-kaka,' or Parrot's-bill, and to grow to the size of a large tree" (sic)—" in England, however, it has not reached beyond 4 feet in height." The coloured drawing of the plant is a bold, clear, and good one, and shows the flowers much as Don had described them, with their "wings lanceolate and acuminate." At that time Dr. Lindley restored to the plant its original name of Clianthus puniceus, which it has properly retained ever since.

During my early visits to the East Coast, but always late in the summer, (1838-1843,) landing at Wharekahika (Hicks' Bay), and travelling on foot to Poverty Bay, in and out among the Maori villages, I noticed a few scattered plants of Clianthus, though much as I had formerly seen them in the North.

In 1844 I came to Hawke's Bay (second time) to permanently reside, and it was not very long before I obtained plants of Clianthus (from seed or cuttings) from the Maoris for my garden. In due time, when these grew and flowered, I noticed a marked difference between their flowers and those of the northern plant, with which I was so well acquainted. At first I did not pay great attention to it, having vastly too much of other and more important matters to attend to, but in course of time, and as my plants grew so tall and to such a large size, I examined them a little more closely, and then I discovered what I believed to be a true specific difference, or, at all events, showing a marked variety, if the newly-detected characters should prove constant. Somewhere in the decade of 1840, I sent specimens of this southern form of Clianthus (with other plants) to Kew, to Sir W. J. Hooker, calling his attention to the differences I had noticed; in the course of (say) the following year, Sir W. J. Hooker, in reply, said that they at Home who had examined the dried specimens sent could not detect any material difference.

After that time the matter slept, as far as I was concerned. Of late years, however, having the southern form (as I call it) always here in my own garden, and seeing it generally plentifully cultivated in gardens in this town, and in the adjacent country villages and other places, I have been led again to closely examine the plant, and I have found that those differences I had formerly detected still continued. I, therefore, obtained both seeds and plants of the northern form from Auckland, and this year the plants have flowered in my garden; and now, having the opportunity of comparing closely the two forms in a living state, I give briefly the result of my old and new examinations, which will serve sufficiently to point them out.

1. Clianthus puniceus, Sol. (vera: N. form).

Flower 8 inches long, 1 inch broad; standard ovate, very

acuminate, sides nearly straight, claw long; wings lanceolate, acuminate, acute; colour a clear lively scarlet.

2. Clianthus maximus, Col. (S. form).

Flower 2-2 inches long, 1 inches broad; standard broadly ovate, acuminate, sides rounded, claw short; wings somewhat oblong, broad, very obtuse (rounded) at apex; colour a less clear red, verging to more of a dark or crimson hue, with a large dark spreading blotch at base of the standard; flower broader; and the substance of the petals, especially the keel, thicker, more coriaceous or skinny, and finely wrinkled. The leaves also of this species are larger, some leaflets measuring more than two inches; these are also more membranous and glabrous than in the northern form; and the whole plant is stouter, rises higher, generally from 6 to 10, or even 12, feet.

The principal differences, however, which are clearly apparent at first sight, (especially if the flowers of the two forms are compared together in a living state), consist in their relative sizes, in the shape of their standards, and more especially in their wings, and also in their colours; but whether those differences, though constant, are sufficient to constitute two separate species, or merely varieties, is of little consequence to me-the two forms exist.

And here I may further remark (having very frequently of late years noticed it), that several of our indigenous New Zealand plants, and in particular of genera of which it had always been believed that New Zealand possessed but one species of each genus, have now, at least, two species to each genus; or if not exactly (and beyond all controversy) two species, seeing that the limit of a species can scarcely be clearly defined, then two forms; the southern form being very distinct from the northern one, yet pretty closely resembling it in general appearance. And this I have especially noticed to take place in the Orchid Order: e.g. Dendrobium, Sarcochilus, Bolbophyllum, Gastrodia, Earina, Microtis, and Orthoceras; to which may be added Gratiola, Dianella, Arthropodium, Tupeia, Australina, Hoheria, and many others.

To this mysterious subject, however, of dimorphism (found here again in Clianthus), I hope to return on some future occasion.

In conclusion, I may add, that Lindley's description of Clianthus puniceus agrees with the coloured drawing of the English cultivated one already referred to, in which the alæ or wings are correctly shown to be lanceolate acuminate with acute tips. A. Cunningham's description of the same, in his "Prodromus Nova Zealandiæ," (published several years after, 1839), in "Annals of Natural History," vol. iii., p. 246), is drawn, as he shows, from two sources, the one being "Solander's MSS.

in Bibl. Banks," and the other Dr. Lindley's description already mentioned; as at that time of Cunningham's writing his valuable paper in England, he had not seen the plant growing in New Zealand,-although he did afterwards in my garden and elsewhere. Sir D. Hooker, in his "Flora Nova Zelandia," in describing Clianthus puniceus gives the following: (1. of the genus), "Vexillum ovatum, incumbens v. reflexum, carinam oblongam cymbiformem æquans: ala lanceolata, basi exciso auriculatæ, carina breviores:" and (2. of this species), "Standard ovate, slightly recurved, as long as the keel. Wings lanceolate, sub-falcate, sharp, twice as long as the standard, 1 - 2 inches long." Here, however, while his description of the shape of the wings is quite correct, and in agreement with both Don and Lindley, above, viz.," Wings lanceolate, sharp;" there is a manifest error with regard to their size-"twice as long as the standard." This latter is corrected in his "Handbook," published several years after (1864), and altered to "half as long as the standard;" while the former description of the shape of the tips of the wings is also altered from " sharp" to "acute or obtuse; evidently, as I think, to embrace the two states or forms (whether species or varieties) to which I had early called his attention. Napier, December 10th, 1885.

P.S.-Living flowers of both plants, with mounted dissections showing the diverse forms of their parts, as described in this paper, were exhibited at the ordinary meeting of the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute in October, 1885.-W.C.

ART. XLVII.-Description of New Species of Native Plants. By D. PETRIE, M.A.

[Read before the Otago Institute, 9th June, 1885.]

Cotula goyeni, n. sp.

A MINUTE, prostrate, creeping herb.

Stems very short, clothed by the leaves, and woolly below their insertion.

Leaves broadly-oblong, inch long; upper half cut into 5-7 linear lobes directed forwards, greyish-green; lower half entire, membranous, scarious, 1-nerved, more or less pubescent on the margin and outer surface.

Heads small, subsessile or sessile at the tips of the branches; peduncles very short (rarely exceeding inch), woolly or pubescent; bracts in one or two series, ovate-oblong, obtuse, dark-purple at the edges: outer florets, female in one series; inner hermaphrodite; style crowned by a thin disc-like flattened stigma, in both female and hermaphrodite flowers; stamens

exserted, and style still larger than the stamens. seen in the mature form, but apparently glabrous.

Achene not

Hab. Old Man Range, 5,000 feet; and Mount Pisa, 5,000 to 6,000 feet.

A very peculiar species, having considerable affinity to C. pectinata, Hook. fil. The most remarkable point in its structure is the capital flat-topped stigma, which is common to both kinds of flowers. In some specimens the stigmatic disc shows traces of a division into two lobes, but I have seen none with anything like two branches to the style. Cotula maniototo (mihi) in this respect approaches the present species, for in all its hermaphrodite flowers the stigma is capital and flat-topped. The flowers of the outer row, on the other hand, have in C. maniototo two short arms to the style.

If this peculiarity should prove constant in the present species, and it should continue to be regarded as a Cotula, the character of the genus as now formulated will require modification. I was unfortunately unable to procure mature achenes, as my specimens were gathered about the middle of February; the mature fruit might be got in March. The plant is very common on the top of the Mount Pisa Range, and less so on the Old Man Range, above Deep Creek.

Myosotis cheesemanii, n. sp.

A small, branched, hispid perennial.

Stems several, slender, ascending, about 1 inch in length, densely hispid.

Radical leaves 7-9 lines long, spathulate-oblong, acute, 3-nerved near the base, the upper half coriaceous, the lower membranous, every where densely hispid with appressed stiff hairs, except on the lower third on the inner face, which is glabrous.

Cauline leaves similar, but narrower, shorter, and more acute. Flowers, 1-4 on each stem, solitary or in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves, shortly pedicelled, 5 lines in length.

Calyx densely hispid with appressed hairs, shortly 5-lobed, the lobes acute.

Corolla white, the tube twice as long as the calyx, limb about 3 lines across.

Anthers not exserted, style projecting nearly one line beyond the corolla.

Nuts in pairs, narrow-ovate, lenticular, smooth and polished, dark-brown, with narrow wing-like ridges.

Hab. Mount Pisa Range (6,000 feet), on steep faces of shingle above the snow-drifts.

A most beautiful little plant. The flowers are conspicuous, and large for so small a plant. They have also a strong and agreeable odour, and are much frequented by insects, by which

their fertilisation is doubtless effected. I have much pleasure in dedicating the species to Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., who has done much to elucidate the New Zealand species of the genus.

I have a form of this species from Mount St. Bathan's (4,500 feet); and Mr. G. M. Thomson informs me that he has gathered the same on the Rock and Pillar Range at an altitude of 4,000 feet.

Carix berggreni, n. sp.

Small, loosely tufted, reddish-brown.

Culms very short, 1-2 inches long, flattened above, shorter than the leaves, and enclosed to the base of the head by thin broad sheathing bases.

Leaves red-brown, 2-3 inches long, flat linear, of uniform width throughout the blade, obtuse, not serrate, finely and closely striate; bases paler, membranous, sheathing, twice as broad as the blade.

Spikelets 3, unisexual; two lower female, uppermost wholly male, approximate, stout, each 3 lines long, on short slender pedicels; bracts leaf-like, sheathing, diminishing in the upper spikelets.

Glumes broadly-ovate, shorter than the utricles, membranous, obtuse, rarely mucronate, entire, 1-nerved, with darkbrown streaks and blotches.

Utricles turgid, bi-convex, elliptic-oblong, not beaked, shortly bifid, spreading, very faintly nerved, dark-brown or black above, elsewhere green.

Branches of the style, 2. Fruit, 3-angled.

Hab. Mount Pisa Range, at the head-waters of the Luggate Creek, 4,000 to 5,000 feet.

This is a most distinct species. It is most nearly related to C. uncifolia, Cheeseman, but its short red-brown obtuse ensiform leaves readily distinguish it from all its congeners in New Zealand. The male spikelet is somewhat larger than and not so stout as the female ones. Named in honour of Dr. Sven Berggren, of Upsala University, who has described and figured several New Zealand species of the genus.

Carex kirkii, n. sp.

Small, densely tufted, grass-like; forming low tussocks 1-21 feet in diameter.

Culms 1 inch long, very slender, much shorter than the leaves, and enclosed in their sheathing bases.

Leaves 3-5 inches long, filiform, involute, slightly striate, pale-green, with short broad membranous sheathing bases.

Spikelets 3-5, forming a compact ovoid head 6-9 lines long, sessile, closely approximate, female below, male above, fewflowered; bracts variable, the lowermost usually leaf-like, the upper glume-like, all shortly sheathing at the base.