11. V. amabilis, Cheesem. n. sp.—A tall branching shrub 6–15 ft. high or even more; branches rather slender, terete, quite glabrous or the younger ones minutely puberulous. Leaves spreading, shortly petiolate, 2–4 in. long, ⅔–1 in. broad, oblong-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, firm but hardly coriaceous, flat, smooth and glabrous, midrib obscurely puberulous above, margins entire. Racemes axillary and opposite near the tips of the branches, 4–6 in. long, slender, lax-flowered, usually attenuate at the tip; pedicels slender, the lower ones often ⅓ in. long or more. Flowers large, ⅓ in. diam., white. Calyx deeply 4-partite; segments ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, ciliolate. Corolla-tube short and broad, equalling the calyx or rather longer than it; limb 4-lobed; lobes oblong, obtuse. Capsule ¼ in. long, ovate, acute, twice as long as the calyx.—V. salicifolia var. gracilis, T. Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 120.
Var. blanda, Cheesem.—Apparently a closely branched shrub. Leaves rather close-set, spreading, often distinctly petiolate, 1–2½ in. long, ½–¾ in. broad, elliptic-lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, flat, glabrous or puberulous on the margins and midrib above; margins thickened, entire or remotely notched. Racemes 2–3 in. long, often 1 in. broad, dense- or lax-flowered. Flowers large, white, ¼–⅓ in. diam. Calyx-segments acute. Ripe capsules not seen.
South Island: Otago—Bluff Hill, Kirk! Var. blanda: Port Chalmers, Petrie! Preservation Inlet, Kirk! Stewart Island: Port William, Lyall; Paterson's Inlet, G. M. Thomson! Ruapuke Island, H. J. Matthews!
The plant from the Bluff Hill, which I have taken for the type of the species, was referred by Mr. Kirk to V. salicifolia, from which it appears to me to differ altogether in the broader and shorter leaves, more lax-flowered racemes, longer pedicels, much larger flowers, acute calyx-segments, shorter and broader corolla-tube, and larger capsule. It is much nearer V. macrocarpa, but the leaves are shorter and broader, the racemes laxer, and the calyx-segments acute. Var. blanda has still shorter and broader leaves, with the margins often thickened and peculiarly notched, and the racemes are shorter and denser, but the flowers are very similar. Mr. N. E. Brown informs me that Lyall's Port William specimens, mentioned in the Handbook under V. macrocarpa and V. ligustrifolia, are both referable to it.
12. V. Lewisii, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 357.—A handsome closely branched erect shrub 3–6 ft. high; branches stout, terete, clothed with short and fine greyish-white pubescence. Leaves pale-green, spreading, shortly petiolate, 1½–2½ in. long, ¾–1 in. broad, oblong or elliptic-oblong, acute or subacute, rounded or truncate or subcordate at the base, coriaceous, glabrous above, midrib often puberulous beneath, margins edged with a soft white pubescent line. Racemes near the tips of the branches, short and stout, 2–2½ in. long, 1 in. diam., dense-flowered; rhachis, pedicels, and bracts finely pubescent. Flowers large, ⅓ in. diam. or even more, pale-blue. Calyx 4-partite; segments ovate-
