fulvous hairs. Leaves alternate or subwhorled, 2–4 in. long, obovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong or lanceolate-oblong, obtuse or acute, coriaceous, dark-green above, paler below, narrowed into rather long petioles ½–¾ in. long. Flowers in many-flowered terminal umbels; peduncles slender, longer than the petioles. Sepals ovate-lanceolate. Petals ligulate, obtuse, slightly recurved. Ovary pubescent. Fruiting peduncles slender, decurved. Capsules ½ in. diam., rounded, tetragonous or 4-lobed, 2-valved; valves woody, granulate.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 613; Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 24; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 21; Kirk, Students Fl. 50.
Var. cordatum, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. 264.—Leaves narrower, linear-obovate or obovate-spathulate, acute, gradually narrowed into the petiole. Capsules rounded, cordate, acuminate; valves not lobed.
North Island: Not uncommon along the shores from the North Cape to Poverty Bay. Var. cordatum: Haratoanga, Great Barrier Island, Kirk! September–November.
Easily recognised by the many-flowered umbels and roundish 4-lobed capsules.
15. P. Kirkii, Hook. f. ex T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ii. (1869) 92.—A stout sparingly branched glabrous shrub 4–12 ft. high, often epiphytic; branches stout; bark reddish-purple. Leaves crowded or whorled, 2–5 in. long, linear-obovate, obtuse or subacute, very thick and coriaceous, quite entire, gradually narrowed into a short stout petiole; margins thickened, slightly recurved. Flowers yellow, in terminal 3–10-flowered umbels. Sepals lanceolate, acuminate. Petals more than twice as long as the sepals, very narrow linear, acuminate, sharply recurved. Fruiting peduncles short, stout, erect. Capsules large, 1½ in. long, elliptic-oblong or elliptic-obovoid, 2-valved, quite glabrous, cuspidate.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 50.
North Island: Auckland—Between Whangape and Hokianga, Kirk! Maungataniwha, T. F. C.; Bay of Islands, A. Cunningham; plateau near Taheke, Petrie! Maungatapere, H. Carse! Whangarei, Buchanan; Great Barrier Island and Omaha, Kirk! Cape Colville Peninsula, from Cabbage Bay to Te Aroha, Kirk, T. F. C; Waitakarei and Titirangi Ranges, T. F. C. Taranaki—Mount Egmont Ranges, J. Adams and T. F. C. Altitudinal range from 800 to 3000 ft. December–January.
A handsome and well-marked species, which cannot be confounded with any other.
16. P. cornifolium, A. Cunn. Bot. Mag. t. 3161.—A slender sparingly branched shrub 2–5 ft. high, usually growing as an epiphyte on the trunks or branches of forest trees, more rarely on rocks, never truly terrestrial. Branches forked or whorled, glabrous, or the younger ones silky-pubescent. Leaves whorled, 1½–2½ in. long, elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-obovate, acute, coriaceous, quite entire, glabrous; petioles very short. Flowers polygamous or diœcious, in 3–5-flowered terminal umbels; females
