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80 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND.
lanceolatis lateraUbus oblongis omnibus acutis acuminatisve grosse serratis, glandulis hypogynis erectis
linearibus obtusis, seminibus laxe pilosis. Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic. A. Cunn. Prodr.
Var. a ; foliis ternatis imparipinnatisve, foliolis coriaceis glabris, pedunculis petiolis ramulisque
pubescentibus. W. sylvicola, A. Cnnn. Prodr.
Var. p.fiielmoides; foliis simplicibus ternatisve majoribus, ovario capsulaque pilosis. W. fuchsioides,
A. Cunn. Prodr.
Var. 7 . hetulina; foliis ternatis imparipinnatisque minoribus, foliolis valde coriaceis obovatis basi
angustatis. W. betnlina, A. Cunn. Prodr.
Ha b . Common in woods, tbrougbout the three Islands, Banks and Solander, etc. Fl. August to
November.' (Cultivated in England.)
A smaU tree, 20-80 feet high, with blackish bark. Branches, petioles, costa of leaf helow. and peduncles
pubescent. Leaves opposite, simple, ternate, or imparipinnate, often on the same specimen. Leajlds very variable
in size, 1-2 inches long, obovate-ohlong or obovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coarsely serrate, coriaceous ;
when pinnate the lateral leaflets are oblique. Stipules deciduous, large in young plants, leafy, obovate, blunt, placed
between the petioles. Racemes as long as the leaves, erect; pedicels 2-8 lines long. Momm numerous, white,
variable in size, 2 lines broad. Capsules 2-8 lines long. Seeds few, very minute, with a tuft of woolly hairs at each
end.—Au exceedingly variable plant, of which Cunningham has made three species ; these, however, present no
constant characters.
2. Weinmannia racemosa, Forst. ; ramulis glabris, foliis simplicibus ternatisve coriaceis ovato- v. ellip-
tico-oblongis acutis grosse sinuato-serratis, costa glaberrima, racemis glabris, capsulis glaberrimis. Porst.
Prods-. DC. Prodr. v. 4. p . 9. W. spatiosa. Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic. Leiospermum, Bon. A. Cunn.
Prodr. An prioris forma ?
H a b . Abundant throughout tbe Islands, Banks and Solander, Forster, etc. Nat. names, “ Tawai,”
Csmn.; "Tawhero,” Southern Island, ly a ll.
I am quite unable to distinguish this generically from IY. sylvicola, as I find the ripe seeds (on the supposed
smoothness of which Don founded the genus Leiospermum) to be invai-iably hairy, precisely as in Wàmiannia, though
in both immature (abortive?) smooth seeds may be found. Tlie present has larger, broader, more coriaceous leaves,
smooth peduncles, petioles, and costa of the leaf, often larger flowers, longer pedicels and styles, and larger narrower
capsvdes ; but none of these are constant characters ; they do not accompany one another on the same specimens; and,
in short, this species appears to run into the former in every possible way.
The leaves are sometimes 8^ inches
long and rounded, and the racemes 5 inches.
N at. Or d . XXXVI. SAXIERAGErE, Jms.
Gen. I. DONATIA, Forst.
Calycis tubus turbinatus, ovario adnatus; limbi lobis 3-7, regulariter v. irregulariter insertis. Petala
5-10, calyce inserta. Stamina 2-3, basi cum stylis coalita v. libera, disco epigyno imposita; antheris ex-
trorsi’s. Ovarium conicum, 2-3-loculare ; ovulis paucis, e summo anguli interioris loculi suspensis, ascendentibus
; stylis 2-S, liberis v. basi coalitis. Capsula coriaceo-carnosa, 2-3-locularis, polysperma.
The New Zealand Donatia is one of the most interesting recent discoveries in those Islands, for the genus, ol
wliich only one species was previously known, was supposed to be confined to Antarctic America. Both
speeies are smaU, moss-like, densely tufted, alpine plants, forming hard masses on the ground, of a bright green
colour, and often contributing to the formation of peat. Leaves fleshy, linear, alternate, densely crowded; the
solitary terminal white flowers appear on a level with them. Calyx tube obconical ; limb in the New Zealand
species of five equal regular lobes; in the American, of three to seven in-egularly placed lobes, of unequal length.
Petals five, regular in the New Zealand plant ; more numerous, irregular, and passing into the calyx-lobes in the
American. Disc broad, flat. Stamens few, placed near the centre; the filaments free or cohering round the styles, of
which there are two to three. Ovary obconic, two- to three-celled, with many ovules suspended from a projecting placenta
at the upper inner angle of each cell. Capsule coriaceous, indéhiscent ?—The New Zealand plant appears to
have all the flowers fertile, and they are regular in the number and disposition of their parts ; the American plant,
again, is apparently unisexual, and has the calyx lobes aud petals very irregularly placed. (Named in honour of
Antonio Bonati, a Venetian botanist and physician.)
1. Donatia Novæ-Zelandice, Hook. fil. ; foliis linearibus subacutis carnosis glaberrimis basi sericeis,
calycis lobis petalisque 5 regularibus, staminibus 2, stylis 2 brevibus basi connatis, ovario 2-loculari.
T a b . X V I I L
H a b . Mountains of the Southern Island, Br. Lyall.
Stems very short, an inch or two high, branched, densely leafy, sending down here and there veiy stout simple
roots ; including the leaves, as thick as the little finger. Leaves bright green, the lower red-brown, closely imbricated
in many series, erect, appressed, | inch long, linear, thick and coriaceous, blunt, nerveless. Flowers sessile, sunk
among the leaves iu the ends of the branches, solitary. Calyx ^ line long; lobes ovate, acute. Petals white,
thick, and fleshy, 1 line long, ovate-oblong, blunt. Filaments short. Anthers extrorse. Stijles shorter than the
stamens, with capitate stigmas.—P l a t e XVIIL Fig. 1, 3, leaves; 3, 4, flowers ; 5, vertical, and 6, lougitudinal
section of ovary :—all magnified.
N a t . O rd . XXXVIL BREXIACEÆ, Lindi.
Gen. I. IXERBA, A. Cunn.
Sepala 5, patentia, imbricata. Petala 5, sub disco liypogyno obscure 5-lobo inserta, imbricata.
5, disci lobis alterna. Ovarium superum, disco cinctum, conicum, in stylum strictum rectum
acutum sulcatum aitenuatum, 5-loculare; ovulis geminis, coUateralibus, funiculo brevi lato loculi ángulo
interiori affixis, asceudentibus, anatropis. Capsula coriaceo-carnosa, libera, depresso-globosa, 5-loba,
5-locularis, stylo 10-sulcato torto terminata, loculicide 5-valvis; valvis basi coufluentibus, apice bifidis.
Semina loculis solitaria, reniformi-oblonga, hilo lato adnata; testa coriaceo-crustacea, nitida; albumen
0 ; embryo membrana propria inclusus, obovatus ; cotyledonibus magnis, plano-convexis ; radicula parva,
supera.
This beautiful plant, the only one of its genus, forms a small evergreen branching tree, with esstipulate, petiolate,
alternate, opposite or ternate, coriaceous, linear-lanceolate, sinuato-seiTate leaves, and terminal panicles of a few
large white flowers. Calyx of five imbricated silky sepals. Coi'olla of as many long, spreading, white, coriaceous
petals. Stamens 5 ; filaments long, erect, inserted under the edge of a 5-lobed spreading disc, which occupies the
centre of the flower, and is continuous with the conical ovarium ; anthers subsagittate or oblong, acute. Ovary
five-celled, terminating iu a stout, erect, twisted, sharp, ten-furrowed style ; ovules two, side by side in each cell.
Capsule free, coriaceous, five-celled, opening at the top by five valves, each terminated with two awns, which are
portions of the style, which latter splits from below upwards into ten pieces ; cells smooth and shining inside.
Seeds one in each cell, projecting from the open valves, when still attached by their broad short funiculi. Testa
polished, clouded grey and black.—The nearest allies of this are a New Caledonian genus, Argophyllum, Forst.,
and Bi-exia, a IMadagascar plant. To the latter its affinity is so very close, that Cunningham anagrammed Brexia
into Ixerba. It differs from that plant in having few ovules, and iu wanting a fringed disc.
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