pdf 25 MB - BSBI Archive

358 NOTES ON SOME COMPOSITiE OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND.
Genus II. Senecio. Like Olearia, includes some of the most
ornamental, arboreous, and sliuubby Comj)odlce of Otago, beautiful
alike in foliage and blossom. Some species abound on the ranges of
the south-eastern districts, at elevations of between 1000 and 2000
feet (Buchanan) ; while forms of certain common lowland species \_e.g.
S. helUdioides] ascend as high as 7000 feet, on the western alps. In
Nelson, on the mountains of the west coast, species of Senecio com-
monly attain an elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet (Haast).
1. S. lautus, Forst. (var. y. macrocephaltis, Hook. f. in raj"- herba-
rium). Greenisland Peninsula; and sand dunes about mouth of the
Kaikorai ; November, in flower, W. L. L. Has much the appearance
of our S. vulgaris, L., and S. viscosus, L., which it may be held here so
far to represent.
Plant glabrous. Dries to a leathery brown in some specimens ; while
others retain somewhat their greenness of leaf. So infinitely variable
is the leaf in its characters that it is equally impossible and unneces-
sary to describe all its forms. Its most prominent variations relate to
its general form, and to the nature and degree of its divisions. Some-
times the leaf is 4 in. long and 1 in. broad ; tapering below into a petiole,
which is occasionally 3 in. long ; most frequently obovate ; very irregu-
larly runcinate-pinnatifid ; sometimes 3- or more-pinnate, the pinnae
being again subdivided like the more simple leaves. No leaves are
entire ; many resemble those of Ereclitilea arguta, than which they are
generally larger. • Auricles scarcely amplexicaul.
Tarndale specimens in my herbarium more resemble Erechtites arguta
than do Otago ones. Heads about as long as those of E. arguta ; the
broader corymb more resembles the panicle of E. quadridentata.
2. S. helUdioides, Hook. f. Among "scrub," base of Stoneyhill;
December, in flower, W. L. L. My plant apparently corresponds to
var. y of the ' Handbook' (p. 1.59). It appears to me unnecessary to
place on record such varieties or forms as the three there given. Scape
in my plant glabrous 3-4 in. long ; 1-flowered. Hairs brown, chafty,
coarse ; most distinct and abundant in the young leaf-shoots, and
especially in tlie young leaf-petioles. Leaf becomes blackish-green in
herbarium ; 1| in. long and f in. broad ; broadly lanceolate or ovate,
tapering into a short petiole {\ in. long). Apex subacute or rounded
margin entire, or subcrenulate and subundulate ; rugose reticulation
of surface most distinct in the older leaves.
;