ordinal characters given in this book, or in other works on the flora. By so doing he will insensibly acquire a practical knowledge of the characters used in distinguishing the species and genera which will ultimately enable him to identify them for himself. In using the subjoined key to the New Zealand genera it must be remembered that the minute differences in the shape of the style-branches, so largely employed to separate the tribes from one another, can only be observed in the hermaphrodite florets, the style of tbe female florets being very similar throughout the order.
Suborder TUBULIFLORÆ.
Heads with the florets all tubular and hermaphrodite, or with the marginal ones alone ligulate and female or neuter.
Tribe 1. EUPATORIACEÆ.
Heads homogamous, florets all tubular, hermaphrodite. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-branches long, obtuse, thickened upwards or club-shaped, equally minutely papillose.
| Herb with opposite leaves. Achene 5-angled. Pappus of 5–10 scales or bristles | 1. Ageratum. |
Tribe 2. ASTEROIDEÆ.
Heads heterogamous, radiate or discoid, or with the ray deficient and then homogamous. Anthers nearly entire at the base. Receptacle naked. Style-branches flattened, produced above the stigmatic margins into a triangular or lanceolate papillose appendage.
| A. Female florets ligulate, forming a more or less conspicuous ray. (Ray absent in some species of Olearia, and dwarfed in two species of Pleurophyllum.) | |
| * Pappus wanting, or of minute scales or setae. | |
| Herbs. Leaves usually radical. Pappus entirely wanting. Achene narrowed upwards into a neck or beak | 2. Lagenophora. |
| Herbs. Leaves radical or cauline. Pappus wanting or of scale-like bristles. Achene not beaked | 3. Brachycome. |
| ** Pappus long, copious. | |
| Shrubs or trees. Scales of the involucre in several series, margins scarious. Achenes nearly terete | 4. Olearia. |
| Herbs. Leaves all radical, large, many-nerved. Heads numerous, racemed | 5. Pleurophyllum. |
| Usually stemless herbs with radical leaves, but stems sometimes elongated and the leaves cauline. Scapes simple; heads solitary | 6. Celmisia. |
| Branched leafy herb. Heads solitary, terminal. Achene much flattened. Style-branches with subulate tips | 7. Vittadinia. |
| B. Female florets tubular, in many series. | |
| Alpine woolly herbs. Stems cæspitose or compacted into hard rounded masses. Heads broad, sessile | 8. Haastia. |
Tribe 3. INULOIDEÆ.
Heads heterogamous and discoid (rarely radiate in some foreign genera), or homogamous through the suppression of the female florets. Anther-cells produced at the base into filiform tails. Style-branches linear, obtuse, never ending in an appendage.
