Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/105

stout terminal peduncles. Sepals very large, almost foliaceous, lanceolate, acuminate, with 3 stout nerves. Petals much shorter than the sepals, cleft almost to the base. Stamens 10. Styles 3. Capsule about half as long as the sepals, 6-valved to the base. Seeds 12–20, red-brown, covered with large projecting papillae.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 58.

South Island: Nelson—Dun Mountain, Rough! T. F. C.; Wairau Gorge, Travers; Mount Captain, Kirk! Clarence Valley and Lake Tennyson, T. F. C. Canterbury—Mount Torlesse, Haast, Petrie, T. F. C.; Broken River and Upper Waimakariri, Enys! Kirk! T. F. C. Altitudinal range 3000 to 6000 ft. December–February.

One of the most distinct species of the genus, remarkable for its fleshy glaucous habit, large green flowers, and the large papillæ on the seeds. It appears to be confined to bare shingle-slopes on the mountains.

6. S. gracilenta, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 326.—A loosely tufted rigid and wiry yellow-green herb 1–5 in. high; stems suberect, slightly scabrid, often matted and interlaced. Leaves opposite, glabrous, 1/6–1/4 in. long, linear-subulate, curved, concave above, smooth and convex below when moist, when dry grooved on each side of the stout midrib; tip rigid, terete, acute; margins thickened, slightly ciliate at the base, not revolute; each stem-leaf with a small fascicle of leaves in its axil. Peduncles springing from the axils of the uppermost leaves, 1–3 in. long, solitary, strict, erect, 1-flowered, 2-bracteolate about the middle. Flowers ⅓ in. diam., greenish-white. Sepals oblong, acute, with broad membranous margins. Petals 5, rather longer than the sepals, 2-cleft almost to the base. Stamens 5–10. Styles 3. Capsule ovate-oblong, 6-valved; seeds pale-brown, papillose.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 24; Kirk, Students' Fl. 58.

South Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts, ascending to 5000 ft. Descends to sea-level at the mouth of the Waitaki River. November–February.

Easily recognised by the strict wiry habit, subulate leaves, and very long erect peduncles.

3. COLOBANTHUS, Bartling.

Small densely tufted usually rigid glabrous herbs. Leaves opposite, narrow-linear or subulate, usually imbricate, rigid, cartilaginous, rarely fleshy. Flowers green, solitary, on short or long peduncles. Sepals 4–5, coriaceous, erect. Petals wanting. Stamens 4–5, alternating with the sepals, slightly perigynous. Capsule ovoid or oblong, opening by as many valves as sepals.

A small genus of about 15 species, most numerous in New Zealand, but found also on the mountains of South America, in Australia and Tasmania, and in the Antarctic islands. Of the 9 species found in New Zealand, all but 3 are endemic. The species are highly variable, and most of them extremely difficult of discrimination.