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25G NOTES ON SOME COMPOSITiE OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND.
ceding, with abundant showy flower. Its wood resembles that of 0.
nitida, 0. deidata, 0. illcifolia, and 0. Forsteri, in being close-grained,
with yellow markings, and thus suitable for cabinet-work (Buchanan).
My plant is named avicennicefolia, in my herbarium by Dr. Hooker.
Branches glabrous. Foliage resembles that of nitida, except that the
leaf is longer and more elliptical, lanceolate, §ubacute, 3^-4 in. longs
varying from \ in. to 2 in. broad, more finely and distinctly reticulate,
fossulate above, more glossy and less black; upper surface naked,
under surface silvery-tomentose as in the preceding. Leaf generally
flatter, but with tendency to curling; edge entire, but usually with
tendency to slight irregular notching. Petiole about \ in. long.
Midrib more prominent than in nitida.
3. 0. dentata, Hook. f. In the bush, and on open ground
Flagstaft" and Pine Hill ranges, near Dunedin ; December in flower,
W. L. L. Very common on the shores of Thompson's Sound on the
west coast, where it ascends to 1800 feet, and attains considerable
size, becoming sometimes a "bush" tree (Hector).
" New Zealand Holly " of the Otago settler, having curled and spinous
leaves, like those of our Ilex Aquifolium, L., or Eryngium maritimum, L.
Buchanan describes two varieties, a. oblongifolia and )8. lineariifolia.
The stem of the former he represents as attaining a diameter of 18 in.
about Dunedin, and as furnishing a wood " close-grained and well
marked for cabinet-work," (X. Z. Exhib. Catalogue, p. 68.)
I have no doubt that 0. dentata has been in great measure con-
founded with the succeeding, to which the colonial name, and many of
the foregoing remarks, more properly apply.
4. 0. ilicifoUa, Hook. f. This has, according to the Handbook
Fl. N. Z., distinctly spinous, Holly-like leaves ; and it is this species,
perhaps, rather than the preceding, which is entitled to rank as the
representative in Otago of our British " Holly," Both 0. dentata and
0. ilicifoUa are likely, ^ Buchanan remarks, if properly trained, to
make excellent and very ornamental hedges.
Leaf oblong in my specimens, tapering to a point, terminating
generally in a tooth, similar to those which fringe its margin ; base
subtruncate ; about 2 in., long and \ in. broad; margin Avaved as well
as toothed ; veins nearly at right angles to midrib ; tendency to pilosity
of tip, as in nitida. Tomentum distinct only on young leaf-shoots j
but there is the same tendency, as in nitida and avicennicefolia, to
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