Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/493

Gentiana.] 10. G. divisa, Cheesem. n. sp.—Stems slender, erect, excessively branched from the base, often forming hemispherical masses 2–6 in. diam. Radical leaves very numerous, rosulate, 1–3 in. long, oblong- or obovate-spathulate, rounded at the tip, gradually narrowed into broad flat petioles, usually rather thin and membranous, 3–5-nerved. Cauline leaves similar but smaller and on shorter petioles or the uppermost sessile. Flowers very numerous, in dense or lax corymbose cymes, sometimes almost concealing the leaves, about ¾ in. diam., white. Calyx rather more than one-half the length of the corolla, divided three-quarters of the way down or more; lobes linear-oblong, obtuse or subacute. Corolla deeply divided; lobes oblong, rounded at the tip.—G. bellidioides, var. divisa and var. vacillata, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 337.

11. G. Spenceri, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 335.—Annual; stems few or many from the root, slender, erect, 4–10 in. high. Radical leaves numerous, rosulate, 1–2 in. long, broadly ovate- or obovate-spathulate, rounded at the tip, narrowed into a broad petiole as long or longer than the blade, 3- or rarely 5-nerved; cauline few, rather narrower and with shorter petioles. Flowers ⅓–½ in. long, white or white streaked with purple veins, in dense 5–12-flowered umbels, each stem usually with a terminal umbel and 2 lateral ones springing from a pair of leaves half-way down; umbels surrounded by a whorl of 5–7 oblong-spathulate leaves overtopping the flowers and forming a kind of involucre; pedicels short. Calyx cut down almost to the base; lobes linear, acute. Corolla hardly longer than the calyx, divided about ⅔-way down; lobes linear-oblong, obtuse.