Var. angustata. Kirk, l.c.—Leaves narrower than in the type, linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate.
Auckland and Campbell Islands: Woods near the sea, not uncommon. Hooker, Kirk! Chapman! Macquarie Island, A. Hamilton. Var. angustata: Antipodes Island, Kirk!
A larger plant than the preceding, with more fleshy stems and leaves, larger flowers, and larger and more coarsely tuberculate seeds. It much resembles the European S. media, but can always be distinguished by the less developed inflorescence and by the absence of the pubescent line on the branches.
3. S. minuta, Kirk, Students' Fl. 57.—"Annual. Stems ½–1 in. high, narrowly winged, branched, glabrous, ciliate. Leaves ovate, acuminate or acute, narrowed into a short broad petiole; apex callous. Peduncles axillary, 1–2-flowered, with a pair of bracts at the base of the naked pedicels, not diverging. Sepals broadly oblong, obtuse. Petals 5, shorter than the sepals, 2-fid nearly to the base. Stamens 8, rarely 10. Capsule not seen."
South Island: Mount Stokes, 3000 ft., J. Macmahon! Westport, on the sea-beach, Dr. Gaze (a scrap only).
The specimens of this in Mr. Kirk's herbarium are few and imperfect, and I have consequently reproduced his description. He remarks that it is "distinguished from all forms of S. parviflora, S. decipiens, and S. elatinoides by the broadly obtuse sepals, and from S. media by its solitary or geminate flowers and the absence of the hairy line on the stems and branches." It looks to me much like a reduced form of S. parvifiora.
4. S. elatinoides, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 25.—A small glabrous pale-green herb; stems 1–3 in. long, branched, decumbent at the base, ascending or suberect at the tips. Leaves 110–15 in. long, linear or linear-oblong, acute or subacute, narrowed into a short flat petiole. Flowers small, 110 in. diam., axillary and solitary, sessile or on short peduncles. Sepals ovate-lanceolate or subulate-lanceolate, acuminate, with white scarious margins. Petals absent in all the flowers examined. Stamens 5 or 10. Capsule ovoid, as long as the sepals, 6-valved to the middle. Seeds 6–12, red-brown, covered with large rounded tubercles.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 23; Kirk, Students' Fl. 58.
North Island: Hawke's Bay—Lake Rotoatara and Cape Kidnappers, Colenso. South Island: Otago—Duntroon, Sowburn, Tuapeka Mouth, Speargrass Flat, Petrie! November.
Easily recognised by the small size, narrow leaves, acuminate sepals, almost sessile flowers, and coarsely tubercled seeds. The above description is drawn up from Mr. Petrie's Otago specimens, the plant not having been seen in the North Island since Mr. Colenso's original discovery of it more than fifty years ago. It is very closely allied to the Tasmanian S. multiflora, if indeed not a form of that species.
5. S. Roughii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 23.—An erect or straggling much-branched glabrous and succulent glaucous-green herb 2–6 in. high. Leaves ½–1 in. long, linear, acuminate, fleshy, 1-nerved. Flowers large, green, ½–¾ in. long, ½ in. diam., on short
