side of the midrib, or sometimes a prominent bundle of 2–3 placed close together; margins recurved; sheathing base clothed with long dense white silky hairs. Male flowers: Scape 1–3 ft. long, very slender at the base, stouter above, trigonous, shaggy throughout with silky white hairs, panicled above; branches numerous, slender, often flexuous and interlaced; bracts long, leafy. Flowers numerous, small, ⅙ in. long, greenish-yellow or reddish-yellow or maroon. Perianth-segments lanceolate, acuminate, spreading or reflexed, the 3 outer rather larger than the inner. Stamens about half as long as the segments; anthers small, broadly oblong. Female flowers: Scape shorter, with a smaller and more closely branched panicle, branches shorter and more erect. Flowers rather smaller; segments not so spreading. Ovary ovoid-globose, 1-celled; ovules attached to 3 parietal placentas. Berry red, globose, ⅕ in. diam. Seeds linear-oblong, curved, terete, not angled.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 283. A. polyneuron, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 333. (?)A. graminifolia. Col. l.c. xix. (1887) 267. Hamelinia veratroides, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 158, t. 24, excl. fig. c. d.
Var. Hookeriana, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. (1872) 244.—Smaller and more slender, seldom exceeding 3 ft. Scape very slender; branches of male panicle seldom interlacing. Flowers rather smaller, claret-coloured. Berry nearly black, placentas very feebly developed.
North Island: Abundant in woods throughout. South Island: Nelson—Near Collingwood, Travers; Westport, Townson! Charlestown, Kirk! Sea-level to 2500 ft. Kowharawhara. December–January; ripe fruit November–December. Var. Hookeriana: Lava-fields on the Auckland Isthmus, Rangitoto Island, Little Barrier Island, &c. April–June; ripe fruit May–June.
Very near to A. Banksii in habit and general appearance, but widely differing in the 1-celled ovary and small globose berry with terete seeds. I have quoted A. Richard's Hamelinia veratroides as a synonym, his drawing of the female panicle exactly corresponding; but the section of the ovary given is that of A. Banksii, probably through some confusion of specimens.
3. A. Banksii, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 296.—A large densely tufted terrestrial or rupestral species. Leaves very numerous, closely packed, erect, 2–6 ft. long, ½–1½ in. broad at the middle, narrow-linear, tapering into a long acuminate point, narrowed below and then gradually expanded into a broad sheathing base, glabrous or slightly scurfy above, clothed with a thin silvery pellicle beneath, with 3–6 distinct and equally prominent nerves on each side of the midrib; margins recurved; sheathing base most densely clothed with long soft silky hairs. Male flowers: Scape slender at the base, stouter above, trigonous, excessively shaggy with dense white silky hairs, panicled; branches numerous, slender, often flexuous, 4–9 in. long; bracts at the base leafy, with long slender points. Flowers many, about ¼ in. long; perianth-segments ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, spreading, the 3 outer larger than the inner. Stamens shorter than the segments; filaments subulate;
