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North Island: Hawke's Bay, Colenso! South Island: Nelson—Wairoa Gorge, Bryant and Kirk. Otago—Near Dunedin; Catlin's River, Petrie! September–November.

Nearest to C. crassifolia, from which it is separated by the less rigid habit, membranous leaves, and rather smaller flowers.

26. C. virescens, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xi. (1879) 426.—A glabrous much-branched shrub 5–10 ft. high; branches very slender, flexuose, spreading and interlaced; bark pale greyishbrown. Leaves 1/5–1/3 in. long, spathulate or oblong-spathulate, obtuse or subacute, narrowed into a short slender petiole, membranous, quite glabrous; margins flat or slightly undulate. Stipules acute, ciliolate. Flowers involucellate, solitary or in 2–3-flowered fascicles. Male flowers: Calyx wanting. Corolla 1/8 in. long, campanulate, 4-partite almost to the base. Females: Calyx-limb obsoletely 4-toothed. Corolla shorter and narrower than in the males, tubular, deeply 4-lobed. Drupe ¼ in. long, oblong, yellowish-white, translucent.—Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 244; Kirk, Students' Fl. 240. C. divaricata var. pallida, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 107.

North Island: Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay, Colenso! South Island: Pelorus Sound, Rutland! Wairoa Gorge, Bryant and Kirk; Lake Forsyth, Kirk! various localities in Otago, Petrie! Sea-level to 1500 ft. September–October.

A very distinct species, perhaps more closely allied to C. rubra than to any other.

27. C. acerosa, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 477.—A low often excessively braiiched prostrate or suberect wide-spreading shrub 1–5 ft. high; branches straight or flexuous or zigzag, often closely interlaced, younger ones puberulous; bark yellowish-brown or dark-brown, often fissured and uneven. Leaves in close or distant opposite pairs or fascicles, ¼–⅔ in. long, about 1/20 in. wide, erecto-patent, very uniform in shape, narrow-linear, obtuse or subacute, veinless. Flowers axillary, terminating minute arrested branchlets, involucellate. Males: Solitary or in 2–4-flowered fascicles. Calyx wanting. Corolla 1/6 in. long, campanulate, 4-partite to below the middle. Stamens 4. Females solitary. Calyx-limb minutely 4-toothed. Corolla 1/10 in. long, tubular, 4-lobed. Drupe globose, variable in size, 1/6–1/3 in., pale-blue, translucent.—Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 109; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 118; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 244; Kirk, Students Fl. 240.

Var. a, arenaria, Kirk, l.c. 241.—Yellow-green; branches slender, widespreading, flexuous and interlaced. Leaves close-set, very narrow-linear.

Var. b, brunnea, Kirk, l.c.—Dark-brown, branches fewer, short, stout, rigid. Leaves usually distant, shorter and more coriaceous.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Common throughout, var. a chiefly on sand-dunes, var. b in hilly or mountain districts, ascending to 4000 ft. Tatarahake. September–November.

Easily recognised by the peculiar habit, extremely narrow leaves, and sky-blue drupe.