160 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



To the Elaeocarpaceae belongs the native currant (AristoteUa race- 

 mosa), one of the " fire weeds" of New Zealand i.e., a plant which 

 comes up abundantly after a forest is burned. Here also comes that 

 fine tree the hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus) and the pokaka (E. Hookcri- 

 anus), with its distinct juvenile and adult forms. 



The New Zealand geraniums belong to the family Geraniaceae. 

 They are generally rather insignificant, though their first cousins the 

 pelargoniums of gardens, incorrectly termed geraniums, are amongst 

 the most showy of plants. 



To the pea family (Leguminosae) belong the New Zealand brooms 

 (Carmichaelia) (fig. 64), of which there are nineteen species, all of 

 which have remarkable contrivances against drought. Here also 

 comes the yellow kowhai (Sophora micropJu/lla and its allies), and 

 a rare mountain - plant, Swainsona novae-zelandiae, of Australian 

 affinities. Then there is the parrotbill (Clianthus puniceus), which is 

 related to Sturt's desert-pea of central Australia. 



The rose family (Rosaceae) lacks in New Zealand the true roses, 

 but is represented by the genera Eubus (five species or more), to 

 which belongs the bush-lawyer ; Geum (six species, all but one 

 mountain-plants) ; Potentitta (one species) ; and Acaena, to which 

 belong the species of piripiri plants very unlike roses. 



The pitchy-seed family (Pittosporaceae) is common in all our forests. 

 The genus can be recognised by the large capsules, which, when they 

 open, contain black seeds imbedded in very sticky matter. P. toud- 

 jolium, so largely used as a hedge plant, is wrongly called matipo by 

 the gardeners, which is the name for various species of Suttonia. 



Saxifrages (Saxifragaceae), plants so essentially alpine, are wanting 

 in New Zealand ; but we have some forest-trees belonging to the 

 family e.g., the putaputaweta (Carpodetus serratus}. Weinmanma 

 racemosa, called red-birch in Westland, is very common, and belongs 

 to the Cunoniaceae, a most closely related family. 



The sundews (Drosera) belong to the family Droseraceae. There 

 are six New Zealand species in the genus. 



The magnificent magnolias of America and Asia (Magnoliaceae] are 

 absent from our forests, their representatives being shrubs with rather 

 insignificant flowers, the pepper-tree (Drimt/s nxillaris, D. coloratn^ 

 D. Traversii), a relation of the well-known Winter's bark of South 

 America. 



