Art. L.—Descriptions of new Plants.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 13, 1880, Page 384

Art. L.—Descriptions of new Plants. By T. Kirk, F.L.S. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 4th December, 1880.] Olearia Angulata, n.s. A Much-Branched shrub, 8–12 feet high; branches grooved, short; leaves 1½–2½ long, broadly elliptic, rounded at the apex, truncate at the base, waved at the margins, clothed with appressed white tomentum below, veins forming nearly a right-angle with the midrib; flowers in axillary panicles, peduncles equalling the leaves or longer, branches short, spreading, angled, pubescent, heads shortly pedicelled, involucral scales linear-oblong, laxly imbricated, ciliated; florets 3–5, one or two with a broad ray, achenes strigose, pappus in two series. Hab.—North Island, North Cape, Spirits Bay. In habit and foliage this species approaches O. fosterii, while it is closely allied to O. albiflora by the inflorescence. It appears to have been confused with O. albiflora, and has a still more restricted range than that species. Dracophyllum Prostratum, n.s. A small prostrate species, stems 3″–12″ long, with short branches; leaves ⅛″–1/10″ long, ovate subulate, with a broad sheathing base, glabrous; flowers solitary, terminal, sepals ovate, obtuse, shorter than the corolla. Hab.—South Island; mountains above Lake Harris, Otago, 4,000 feet, T. Kirk; Mount St. Bathans; and Stewart's Island, D. Petrie. A variable plant in habit, although constant in its leaves and floral characters. The branches are never so densely crowded as in D. muscoides Hook.f., although Mr. Petrie's specimens approach that species in this particular. The Lake Harris specimens, owing to their exceptional habitat, creeping amongst sphagnum, were very lax and glaucous, but in other respects agree with those from Mount St. Bathans and Stewart Island. Schænus Moorei, n.s. Tufted, leaves shorter than the culms, filiform, slender, grooved, with reddish brown sheaths. Culms 4″–6″ high, slender, grooved; panicle soli-

tary, lateral spikelets, 2–3 one always pedunculate, 3-flowered glumes imbricated, ovate-lanceolate, margins scarious. Bristles 6 shorter than the style, stigmas 3; nut triquetrous. Hab.—North Island—at remarkable saline springs, Glenburn, East Coast. Forming large masses in the immediate vicinity of the springs. Allied to S. pauciflorus, Hook, f., but a much smaller, less tufted plant, with narrower, shorter spikelets, and broader glumes. Agrostis Muscosa, n.s. A small grass forming wide patches, not more than one inch in height. Root creeping. Leaves longer than the culms, filiform, flaccid, more or less recurved, ligule minute lacerate. Panicle hidden among the leaves, recurved, ¼″–½″ in height, few flowers. Empty glumes, equal, scabrid at the margin. Flowering glumes, ovate, truncate. Pale O. Ladicule acute. Agrostis canina and B. subulata; “Hand Book N.Z. Flora,” in part. Agrostis subulata, t. XX. “Buchanan N.Z. Grasses.” Hab.—South Island. Broken River basin, and other places in Canterbury. Lake district of Otago. Probably not uncommon in mountain districts in the South Island, but easily overlooked. In the “Hand Book of the N. Z. Flora,” this species is confused with Agrostis subulata. Mr. Buchanan has fallen into the same error in his “Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand,” where he figures the present plant as Agrostis canina, L. B. subulata, and unaccountably identifies it with the Agrostis subulata of “Hooker's Flora Antartica,” t. LIII., a much larger grass with erect panicles. This species is probably common in the South Island, although I have only collected it in the districts mentioned. So far as I am aware it has not been observed in the North Island. Agrostis subulata, Hook, f. “Fl. Antartica,” t. LIII., differs from our plant in the erect keeled leaves, which are narrow and slightly keeled, never filiform; the panicle is much larger, erect, never recurved, and although hidden amongst the leaves at first, yet when fully matured it slightly exceeds them in length.