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NOTES OX SOME COMPOSITE OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND. 25;>
Saaslia, and Celmisia, have, in respect of the peculiar papery flowers,
dry and bare, silvery or downy, stems, or thick, densely-woolly leaves
and stems, much of the character of the so-called " Everlasting Flowers "
of the Andes.
Buchanan reports species of Leontodon, Hieraciiim, and Aster, as
occurring on hills of between 1000 and 2000 feet ; and species of Chry-
santhemum—some of them very fragrant—on the higher ranges, at or
above 4000 feet, where snow frequently falls or lies,—both in the
south-eastern districts. But, according to the ' Handbook of the New
Zealand Flora,' by Dr. Hooker, none of these genera occur at all in New
Zealand, so that Buchanan has probably mistaken them for such genera
as Taraxacum, Microseris', Celmisia, Olearia, Vittadinia, or Senecio.
Several genera (e.g. Olearia, Celmisia, Cassinid) require apparently
a reduction of the present number of booJc-species, aud the establish-
ment of more comprehensive types. Nor am I satisfied that the genera
themselves, in some instances, do not require revision or reduction in
number.
Genus I. Olearia {Ihii-yhia, Fl. N. Z. pr. p.), includes some of
the most ornamental shrub-trees of New Zealand,— the so-called
"Daisy-trees" of colonists. The blossom is not unfrequently white
and very profuse, contrasting well with the glossy, handsome, green
foliage. Some of the showy-flowered species abound to such an ex-
tent on the hillsides, or plains of the interior, that, at a distance,
travellers have frequently mistaken these flower-carpets for beds of snow!
In cultivation in this country, they have proved hardy and most
ornamental. 0. ilicifolia, 0. dentatay and another referred by Gorrie
to 0. insignis, Hook. f. (the Eurybia eminens of florists), also a South
Island species, have stood out on walls at Trinity, near Edinburgh,
for the last eight or ten years. The latter species covers a wall 10
feet high, with a southern exposure, in the Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh,
where it is also grown separately. In both positions, it has flowered
abundantly for a series of years (Rae), and is very handsome in flower.
0. ilicifolia also grows out at Saughton Hall, near Corstorphine,
Edinburgh (Lowe).
Ima few species, the stem attains considerable dimensions, becomes
woody, and the wood is richly coloured, close-grained, and hard ; so
that it is serviceable in cabinet-work. 0. ilicifolia grows 20 feet high,
with a trunk of the diameter of 2 feet (Buchanan), while of 0. dentata,