axillary; peduncles shorter than the flowers, decurved, with one or two broad concave bracts below the middle. Sepals orbicular, with fimbriate margins. Petals narrow-oblong, obtuse, recurved at the apex. Anthers 5, the broad membranous connectives connate into a tube which has a fimbriate projection above each anther and a broad scale at the back. Ovary 1-celled; style 2-fid. Berry purplish, broadly oblong, 16–14in. diam.; seeds 2.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 18; Kirk, Students' Fl. 44. Scævola (?) novæ-zealandiæ, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 429.
North Island: Maritime rocks opposite the Cavallos Islands, R. Cunn.; Cape Palliser, Colenso! Port Nicholson, Kirk! South Island: Coast between Nelson and Croixelles Harbour, Kirk! T. F. C.; Pelorus Sound, J. Rutland; Banks Peninsula, Armstrong. Otago—Hampden, Moeraki, Dunedin, Balclutha, Petrie! Stewart Island: Kirk. October–November.
A variable plant. One of Mr. Colenso's Cape Palliser specimens has slender branches bearing ovate-rhomboid leaves 1 in. long, the same branch also having linear- obovate leaves of the ordinary type.
2. H. dentata, R. Br., var. angustifolia, Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 104.—A much-branched frequently leafless rigid shrub, in sheltered situations 4–8 ft. high, with fiexuous or zigzag often interlaced branches; in exposed or alpine places shorter and much dwarfed, with the branches densely compacted and ending in stout thorns. Branchlets terete or grooved, covered with minute lenticels. Leaves few or many, often altogether wanting, alternate or fascicled, ¼–¾ in. long, linear or linear-cuneate or linear-obovate, obtuse or retuse, entire or sinuate or irregularly lobed, varying from almost membranous to thick and coriaceous, narrowed into very short petioles. Flowers minute, solitary or geminate, on very short decurved peduncles, diœcious. Male flowers: Sepals rounded, with fimbriate margins. Petals twice as long as the sepals, linear-oblong, recurved at the tips. Connective of the anthers with a narrow appendage toothed or fimbriate at the tip, and an oblong scale at the back. Females: Calyx and petals of the males, but rather smaller. Abortive anthers present. Style 2-fid. Berry 2-seeded; seeds oblong, flat on the inner face, convex on the outer.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 44.
Var. alpina, Kirk, l.c.—Much depressed, 1–2 ft. in diam., forming a mass of densely compacted short and thick spinous branches. Leaves 16–13 in. long, oblong- or linear-obovate, very thick and coriaceous.
North Island: Wellington—Turangarere, A. Hamilton! Upper Rangitikei, Petrie! South Island: Nelson—Wairoa Valley, Bryant! Wangapeka Valley, Wairau Gorge, T. F. C. Canterbury—J. B. Armstrong. Otago—Paradise, near Mount Earnslaw, Kirk! Catlin's River, Kelso, Petrie! Winton, B. C. Aston! Var. alpina: Broken River, Canterbury, Kirk! Enys! T. F. C. Also found in Tasmania.
In its usual state this curious plant is best distinguished from H. crassifolia by the more slender frequently leafless branches, which are usually thickly dotted with minute lenticels, and by the narrower leaves. The Nelson specimens, which are the only ones I have seen in flower, are certainly diœcious, but Tasmanian specimens are said to be hermaphrodite.
