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324 NOTES ON SOME PLANTS OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND.
with a comparatively large, conspicuous, orange flower ; tas some-
what the aspect of the British \H. humifusum, L. Branches 2|-3 in.
high. Lower leaves oblong-ovate ; upper ones lanceolate-oblong, as
in gramineum. Leaf generally broader and more spreading from the
branch than in gramineum : revolution of its margin not so common,
though the tendency exists. Flowers in twos ; peduncles simple, very
short or inconspicuous amid the terminal leaves. The plant is smaller
in most of its parts than—without, however, any proper distinction from
—(jraminmm, to which I do not hesitate to refer it. Not even as
a specially named variety would I separate it, regarding it as I do as
a mere small /on« or condition oi gramineum. It is by the separation
and naming of such forms or conditions that classification becomes
burdened with an unnecessary and mischievous number of pseudo-
species !
Genus IIL Parsonsia.
Its species are " Supplejacks " or " Lawyers "—climbers on forest
trees ; and, especially when in flower, among the most handsome orna-
ments of the New Zealand " Bush." The genus resembles Rubus in the
variability of leaf even on the same plant. According to my specimens
P. alhiflora and P. rosea are very difi'erent plants (as to leaf and whole
habit). P. rosea is not, however, in flower, so that I cannot properly
compare them, I believe they will be found, like so many other New
Zealand species, to be connected by passage-forms.
1. P. alhiflora, Eaoul, (P. heterophylla, PI. N. Z.,) East Taeri bush
November, young, W. L. L. The "Kaiku" (or "Kai-ku") of the
North Island Maori (Colenso). Buchanan recommends it for culti-
vation in this country as a covering (a creeper) for bowers, after the
manner of Jasmine. In flower, smell, and habit, it somewhat resem-
bles the common garden Jasmine, whose representative it may be held
to be in New Zealand. Its fine, large, terminal panicle of white flowers
renders it one of the handsomest " Supplejacks " of Otago. In drying
for the herbarium, all its leaves assume a brown or blackish-broAvn
colour, blackest on the upper shining surface ; the under side having
a duller leathery aspect. The foliage then resembles that of some
species. of Metrosideros when dried, e.g. M. Incida. Corolla dries to a
brownish-yellow ;
My plant is a stout woody shrub, resembling in its branches and
lobes about as long as the tube.
foliage Metrosideros lucida. Puberulence of stem, branches, and naidrib
;