FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND.
I.! ‘d
Petals linear-oblong or rounded, blunt. Stamens five, sessile; connectivum of tbe anthers broad, sometimes produced
above into a shai-p horn or broad membrane, aud furnished at the back below with a strap-shaped erect body.
Ovaiy 1-celled, with three to four parietal placent®, each bearing one to two rows of few or many ovules. Berries of
some species eaten by the natives; round, fleshy, full of seeds, which are angled from mutual compression. (Name
fi'om fieXi, honey, and k v t o s , a cavity, in allusion to the five scales behind tbe anthers, called nectaries by Forster.)
1. Mebcytus ramiflortis, Forst.; cortice albo, fobis oblougo-lanceolatis serratis, antheris obtusis,
stigmate sub-6-lobo sessib, bacca parva. Forst. Prodr, DC. Prodr. v. l . p . 257. A. Richard, Flora.
A. Cunn. Prodr. Tacbites umbellulifera. Banks et Sol. MSS.
H a b . Northern and Middle Islands, abundant, Forster, etc. Nat. name, “ Mahoe," R. C%mn., Lyall.
(Cult, in England.)
A brittle, white-barked shrub or tree. Leaves 4-5 inches long, oblong-lauceolate, sharp, serrated all along
the margin with small blunt teeth.—Mr. Colenso measured a tree of this at Waikare Lake 4 feet 2 inches in
cbcumference.
2. Mebcytus macrophylkis, A. Cunn.; cortice fusco, fobis obovatis grosse sinuato-dentatis, pedunculis
infra ilorem bracteolatis, antheris apiculatis, stigmate discoideo 8-lobo, baccis majoribus. A. Cunn. Prodr.
H a b . Northern Island; Bay of Islands, Frazer, Cunningham, etc.
A large bush, 6-7 feet high, with dark-coloured bark. Leaves broader than iu the former, deeper green, and
with but few lai-ge blunt teeth. Flowo's much larger (two bnes across), on stouter peduncles, which are bracteolate
at tbe apex. Anthers apiculate. Stigma broad, discoid, and lobed. Berries reddish, as large as a pea.
3. Melicytus lanceolatus, Hook, fil.; cortice fusco, fobis anguste lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis argute
serratis, fasciculis paucifioris, peduncubs medio 2-bracteolatis bracteobs connatis, antheris apice appendice
subulato instructis, stylo elongato 3-fido, bacca parva oblonga. T a b . V III.
H a b . Northern Island; forests of tbe east coast, Colenso.
A slender succulent brittle shrub, 10-12 feet high. Leaves long and narrow, 6-8 inches long, sharp and sharply
serrated. Flowers in fascicles of three to four. Anthers with the connectivum produced into a sharp flat point.
long, t r i f i d at the top. Berries oblong, blue-black, small.—P l a t e VIII. Fig. 1, male flower; 2, stamens;
3, 4, anthers; 5, rudiment of pistfilum; 6, female flower; 7, petal; 8, 9, sterile stamens; 10, pistil; 11, ovary cut
across; 12,beny; 13, beiTy cut across ; 14, seed; 15, the same cut longitudinally; 1 6 ,embryo;—all hut fig. 12
4. Mebcytus micranthus, Hook. fil.; bumibs, ramis rigidis tortuosis, ramulis puberubs, fobis parvis
altemis fasciculatisve breve petiolatis obovato-orbiculatis obtusis sinuatis subcoriaceis venosis junioribus
oblongis bnearibus profunde sinuatis pinnatifidisve, floribus minimis solitariis axillaribus pedicellatis, pedi-
ceUo puberulo bracteolato, calycis lobis 4-5 rotundatis cibatis, petabs oblongo-rotundatis, antheris late
rotundatis sessibbus in fl. $ effcetis connectivo superne in squamulam simplicem v. bifidam producto dorso
appendiculato, ovario pauci-ovulato, ovulis placentis 4 nerviformibus sobtarus geminisve suspensis, stigmate
4-lobo discoideo, bacca 2-4-sperma. El®odendron micranthum, Flook. fil. in Lond. Journ. Bot. v. 3.
p. 228. t. 8.
H a b . Northern Island, and northern parts of the Middle Island; east coast and interior, Colenso,
Pascoe, Bidwill. Nelson, Bidwill.
A scrambbng, low, smab-leaved, rigid shrub, or small tree, with tortuous grey or black-barked branches; the
youngest pubescent. Leaves on very short petioles, strongly veined, rounded-obovate, blunt,
sinuated, very pale green; young ones often linear and pinnatifid. Flowers very minute, green, on pubernlous
pedicels shorter than the petioles, axillary, solitary. Calyx-\oht?, rounded, cibated. Petals oblong or rounded, often
ciliated. Anthers sessile, very broad, with an entire or bifid membranous prolongation of the connectivum upwards,
and a fleshy erect scale or gland at the back. Female flowers with imperfect stamens, that have the appendages and
longer connectiva. Ovary flagon-shaped, with a short thick style and four-lobed stigma. Berry scarcely larger
than a mustard-seed, one-ceUed, with about three pendulous seeds; testa coriaceous; radicle cylindrical; cohjledons
broad and flat.—Imperfect specimens of this plant were origmally described as an Flceodendron: it diifers very much
in habit and appearance from Melicytus, and approaches Hymenanthera in these respects, agreeing also in its discoid
stigma, few ovules and seeds, and in its very variable leaves, sinuated when young. The plant bears further a close
general resemblance to Panax anomalum and Melicope simplex.
N a t . O r d . V . DHOSERACEaE, BO .
Gen. I. DROSERA, Linn.
Sépala 4-5, plus minusve inter se coalita. Petala et stamina 4 -5 , basi calycis inserta, vix bypogyna.
Ovarium 1-loculare, stylo brevissimo 3-4-partito v. stigmatibus 3 -4 coronato; ovubs plurimis, placentis
3-4 parietalibus adnatis. Capsula 3-4-valvis. Semina plurima; embryone axi albuminis carnosi, te re ti;
radicula hilo próxima.
Small herbaceous plants, with radical leaves and scapes, or very slender stems, remotely leafy. Leaves in the
scapigerous species robed inward in vernation as with the Ferns, always covered with long hafrs, tipped with glands
that exude a viscid fluid, entrapping insects. Sepals five, sometimes united. Petals and stamens five. Ovary one-
celled, with the ovules generally on three parietal placent®. Capsule bursting by three valves, usually surrounded
at tbe base by the persistent sepals, and often the petals. Seeds numerous, albuminous; embryo in the axis of the
seed, with the radicle towai'ds the hbum.—All the species of this genus (eighty-five) have lately been weU described
by M. Planchón (Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. v. 9), from whose monograph it appears that more than half the species
are confined to Australia and New Zealand. A few of these are common to the East Indies. One of the mountain
New Zealand ones is found in Van Diemen’s Land, and four others are more widely diJTused in Australia;
the sixth is very nearly aUied to the only Magebanic species. There are three kinds in Europe, aU found in England
and in North America. (Name from Spoo-o?, dew, in abusión to the viscid exudation of the leaves; hence the Engbsli
name “ Sun-dew.”)
I. Drosera stenopetala, Hook. fil.; aeaulis, uniflora, foliis longe petiolatis spathulatis, petiolis glaberrimis,
scapo elongato gracili 1-floro, sepalis in calycem obconicum 5-lobum unitis lobis rotundatis subrecurvis,
petalis anguste bneari-elongatis calyce bis longioribus staminibusque perigynis, stylis 3 fimbriato-laceris,
seminibus obovatis turgidis utrinque (e testa laxa) subappendiculatis, testa Hneato-punctata. Drosera sp.
Fl. Ant. V. 1. p . 8. Planchón, Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. v . Q.p. 188.
H ab. Middle Island; Port Preservation, in marshy ground, Lyall. El. January.
Rhizoma short. Leaves probably very variable in length, as usual in its congeners, in Dr. LyaU’s specimens
1-2 inches long; the petiole glabrous; lamina spathulate, covered with long glandular hairs. Scapes slender, one-
flowered, twice as long as the leaves. Calyx an obconic five-lobed cup, 3 lines long, quite smooth. Petals twice
as long as the calyx and stamens, very narrow linear, almost Aliform below, expanding into a narrow spathulate
retuse bmb, membranous. Ovary one-ceUed, three-valved, with three stigmas, which are divided to their bases into
many branches. Seeds small, brown-black.—Tliis plant and the D. uniflora of Fuegia and the Chilian Andes form
a peculiar group of the genus, difl’ering from most others in the one-flowered scape, and from all in the styles being
divided to tbe base, and in tbe stamens and petals being placed on the tube of tbe calyx. This same species has
been found in Lord Auckland’s Croup by myself, and is aUuded to in the ‘ Flora Antarcticaalso by M. Planchón.
P l a t e IX. Fig. 1, flower; 2, petal; 3, stamen; 4, ovarium and stamens :—all magnified.
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