Racemes many-flowered, short, simple or branched, capitate, very densely hispid. Flowers ¼–⅓ in. long, sessile or nearly so, lemon-yellow, sweet-scented. Calyx densely hispid with straight or hooked hairs, deeply 5-lobed; lobes linear, acute. Corolla-tube ⅓ longer than the calyx, narrow funnel-shaped, throat with 5 scales; lobes short, rounded. Stamens included; filaments very short; anthers with their tips just above the level of the scales. Style slender, almost equalling the corolla. Nutlets narrow-ovoid, obtuse, polished and shining, brownish-black.
South Island: Bare shingle slopes on the higher mountains, not uncommon in Nelson, Canterbury, and Westland, less abundant in Otago. 2500–6000 ft. December–February.
A well-marked plant, whose nearest ally is the following species.
11. M. angustata, Cheesem. n. sp.—Size, habit, and general appearance of M. Traversii, and like it everywhere densely hispid with straight or hooked stiff white hairs. Leaves usually narrower, ½–1½ in. long, ⅛–⅙ in. broad, narrow linear-spathulate, obtuse or subacute, gradually narrowed towards the base. Racemes manyflowered, short, simple or branched, when young forming a capitate head to the branches, very densely hispid. Flowers about ⅓ in. long, sessile or nearly so, white. Calyx densely hispid with straight or hooked hairs, divided about two-thirds way down; lobes linear, erect, acute. Corolla-tube longer than the calyx, cylindrical, throat with 5 scales; lobes short, rounded. Stamens with filaments as long as the anthers, so placed that the anthers are wholly above the level of the scales, their tips reaching half-way up the corolla-lobes. Style slender, exceeding the corolla. Ripe fruit not seen.
South Island: Nelson—Mount Arthur Plateau and Raglan Mountains, T. F. C. 3500–4500 ft. January.
I advance this as a distinct species with much hesitation, for at first sight there is little to separate it from M. Traversii except the slightly narrower leaves and white flowers. But the position of the anthers is altogether different, for in M. Traversii the filaments are excessively short, and the tips of the anthers are only just above the level of the scales, whereas in the present plant the filaments equal the anthers, which are altogether above the level of the scales. Technically, it should be placed in the section Exarrhena, but I am unwilling to remove it from the vicinity of M. Traversii.
12. M. albo-sericea, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 738.—Perennial; everywhere silvery white with closely appressed silky hairs; rootstock stout, woody, clothed with the remains of the old leaves; flowering stems one or several, rather slender, 3–6 in. high. Radical leaves very numerous, densely tufted, ½–1 in. long, 110–18 in. wide, narrow linear-spathulate, acute, gradually narrowed into a petiole longer than the blade, coriaceous, uniformly silky on both surfaces; cauline few, distant, ¼–⅓ in. long, linear-oblong or lanceo-
