tato, sub-bilabiato, dentibus obtusis, 1 reliquis sub-duplo longioribus. Stylus incrassatus, cylindraceus, exsertus, basi bulbosus, bifidus, ramis ovato-oblongis obtusis marginibus apiceque stigmatiferis. Achcænium calvum, late obovatum, apice retusum, extus planiusculum, intus carinatum, carina marginibusque celluloso-incrassatis.—Fl. Masc. Corolla tubulosa, clavata, subtetragona, angulis incrassatis linea elevata cellulosis, 4-dentata, dentibus acutis erectis æqualibus. Stamina 4; filamentis ima basi corollæ insertis, angulis incrassatis alternantibus; antheris vix ac ne vix liberis, basi breviter productis. Stylus exsertus, basi (ut in fl. fœm.) bulboso-incrassatus, apice capitato truncato obscure bilobo. Achcænium parvum, vacuum.—Herba repens laxe cæspitosa, ramosa, glaberrima, ad terram montibus insularum Auckland et Campbell obvia. Folia alterna. Capitula inconspicua in ramis ultimis, primum inter folia sessilia, demum pedunculis propriis ultra folia productis apice foliiferis elevata. Flores fusco-purpurascentes. Folia spathulata v. lineari-spathulata elongata.
1. Trineuron spathulatum, Hook. fil. (Tab. XVII.)
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; on peaty soil, near the summits of the mountains, alt. 1200-1400 feet.
Caulis breviusculus, 1-2 unc. longus, sublignosus, repens, fibras copiosas validas elongatas per totam longitudinem emittens, et reliquiis foliorum vetustorum undique tectus, superne parce ramosus; ramis brevibus ascendentibus erectisve foliosis ultra folia in pedunculum nudum apice floriferum productis. Folia basi imbricata, undique patentia, lineari-spathulata, glaberrima, integerrima, plus minusve elongata, ¼-1 unc. longa, obtusa, 3-5-nervia, plana, subcarnosa, læte viridia. Capitula parva, subsolitaria, vel 3-4 aggregata, juniora valde inconspicua, inter folia occulta, demum pedunculata; pedunculo ¼-1 unc. longo, apice folioso, foliis 2-3 reliquis longioribus. Flores minimi, vix ½ lin. longi, sub lente pulchre rubro-purpurei.
A very remarkable genus, most nearly allied to Abrotanella, Cass. (Oligosporus emarginatus, Gaud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. V. p. 104. t. 3. fig. 4), but of a very different habit, and in many other particulars quite distinct, especially in the more numerous scales of the involucre, inserted in two series, in the many-flowered capitula, the quadrifid corollas of the ray, the curious tetragonous corollas of the disc, and the thickened cellular structure which exists in several parts of this plant. Besides the achænia having a thickened border and keel in front, formed of large lax transparent cells, the incrassated angles of the male flowers and the three nerves of the involucral leaves, exhibit the same singular character. In both the latter cases, the substance of the organs themselves, which are opake and fleshy, seems to be divided by broad lines of a transparent substance, marked with transverse septa.
Many of the discoid Senecionidæ, and especially in the tribe Hippiæ of Lessing, are remarkable for the curious and anomalous structure of their inflorescence. In several instances, as in the present, it may be doubted whether the flowers of the ray are really tubular, the general unequal division and oblique aperture of the mouth appearing to indicate their true structure as either ligulate or 2-lipped; 2-lipped perhaps in the present and the following genus, and assuredly 1-lipped or ligulate in Abrotanella, where I observe the three teeth all to point towards one side of the tube, with the middle one the longest. The teeth in this species have the margins thickened, and apparently revolute. The base of the style is peculiarly incrassated, especially in the female flower, having the base of the corolla swollen around it, and the thickened portion often forms a depressed sphere, in which the style seems to be inserted, and it sometimes assumes the appearance of a fleshy ring or corona, surmounting the top of the ovary.
The name is adopted in allusion to the three cellular nerves or lines of the ovary and involucral scales.
Plate XVII. Fig. 1 , capitulum; fig. 2, scale of the involucrum; fig. 3, side view, and fig. 4, front view of flowers of the ray; fig. 5, back, and fig. 6, front view of ripe achænium; fig. 7, style of a flower of the ray, with its bulbous base; fig. 8, flower of the disc; fig. 9, stamen, and fig. 10, style from the same:—all magnified.
