Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/495

Gentiana.]

14. G. concinna, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 53, t. 35.—Usually annual. Stems short, slender, much branched from the base, erect or ascending, 1–4 in. high; branches crowded, leafy. Leaves close-set, ⅓–1 in. long, oblong-spathulate or linear-oblong, obtuse, gradually narrowed into a broad flat petiole, spreading or recurved, coriaceous; cauline similar but smaller. Flowers in the axils of the upper leaves, often very numerous, sessile or shortly peduncled, about ⅓ in. long, white streaked with red or purple or altogether red. Calyx ⅓ shorter than the corolla, divided ¾-way down; lobes linear-oblong, obtuse. Corolla rotate-campanulate; lobes obovate-oblong, obtuse.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 190. G. cerina var. concinna. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 339.

15. G. antarctica, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 339.—Annual; whole plant very minutely verrucose. Stems stout, erect, simple or branched, densely leafy throughout, 3–10 in. high. Radical leaves numerous, spreading all round, 1–2 in. long; blade oblong or lanceolate, obtuse, 3–5-nerved, membranous when dry, narrowed into a petiole of about equal length; cauline leaves rather smaller, with shorter petioles. Flowers small, about ⅓ in. long, crowded on short axillary leafy branchlets shorter than the subtending leaves, each flower in the axil of a floral leaf exceeding it in length; pedicels short, slender. Calyx equalling the corolla or nearly so, divided almost to the base; lobes linear or ligulate, obtuse. Corolla divided about ⅔-way down; lobes linear-oblong, obtuse or subacute. Ovary minutely verrucose.—G. concinna var. robusta. ''Hook. f. Fl. Antarct.'' i. 53.

Var. imbricata, Kirk, l.c. 340.—Rigid, erect, 1–3 in. high. Leaves smaller, closely imbricating, ovate or ovate-spathulate, not verrucose, coriaceous, margins thickened. Flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves; corolla longer than the calyx.

Hooker, Kirk!

Apparently a very distinct species. Mr. Kirk remarks that it is easily recognised by the pale greenish colour, the minutely verrucose surface of all its