Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/528

488 a broad and thin spoon-shaped stigmatic lamina which usually curves over the stamens. Capsule globular or ovoid, included in the persistent calyx, loculicidally 2-valved; valves entire, separating from a central placentiferous axis. Seeds small, ovoid.

1. G. elatinoides, ''Benth. in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' i. 189.—A small creeping intricately branched moss-like plant, forming dense matted patches 2–6 in. across or more; stems slender, rooting at the nodes, rarely suberect at the tips. Leaves opposite, ⅛–¼ in. long, linear-spathulate or linear-obovate, obtuse, gradually narrowed into a petiole equalling the blade. Peduncle at first shorter than the leaves, but often elongating after flowering. Flowers minute, $1⁄10$–$1⁄8$ in. diam., white. Calyx with 4 short obtuse lobes. Corolla-tube shorter than the calyx; lobes rounded, obtuse, fringed with minute cilia. Stamens 4, included. Style short; stigma very large, spoon-shaped, irritable. Capsule small, ovoid-globose.—''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 203; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' iv. 502. Tricholoma elatinoides, ''Benth. in D.C. Prodr.'' x. 426. Lobelia submersa, ''A. Cunn. Precur.'' n. 424.

2. G. submersum, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 401.—A minute very slender intricately branched plant, forming small but dense matted patches; stems creeping and rooting at the nodes. Leaves opposite or fascicled, $1⁄12$–$1⁄5$ in. long, linear or narrow linear-spathulate, quite entire, gradually narrowed into a petiole equalling the blade or rather shorter than it. Peduncles slender, axillary, about as long as the leaves. Flowers very minute, $1⁄20$ in diam. Calyx obtusely 3-lobed. Corolla small, not much longer than the calyx; lobes short, rounded. Stamens 2, included. Capsule not exceeding the calyx, globose, $1⁄10$ in. diam.