Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/756

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1. P. tenax, ''Forst. Char. Gen.'' 48.—Leaves 3–9 ft. long or more, 2–5 in. broad, linear-ensiform, acute or acuminate, apex slit when mature, distichous and equitant at the base, flat above, keeled, very tough and coriaceous, dark-green above, often glaucous beneath, margins and midrib bordered with a red or orange line. Scape very variable in height, 5–15 ft., glabrous, terete, reddish-purple. Flowers numerous, 1–2 in. long, usually dull-red. Inner perianth-segments erect or slightly recurved at the tip. Capsule erect or inclined, stout, trigonous, 2–4 in. long, not twisted.—''A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 153; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 304; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 256; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 286.

2. P. Cookianum, ''Le Jolis in Bull. Soc. Hort. Cherb. 71.—Much smaller and less rigid than P. tenax''. Leaves 2–5 ft. long, rarely more, 1–2½ in. broad, acuminate, apex sometimes conspicuously split, but usually much less so than in P. tenax, pale-green, seldom glaucous, margins and midrib not usually bordered with a coloured line. Scape 2–7 ft. high, much more slender and with a smaller panicle, green. Flowers 1–1½ in. long; the outer segments yellow or yellowish-red, the inner green or greenish-yellow, with evidently recurved tips. Capsule long, pendulous, cylindrical, terete, twisted, 4–7 in. long.—P. Colensoi, ''Hook. f. in''