Oliver. — Vegetation of the Kermadec Islands. 167 



PiTTOSPORACEiE. 



Pittosporum crassifolium, A. Cunii. 



Young leaves covered with white tomentum. Flowers dark red, herma- 

 phrodite, produced throughout most of the year. Fruiting peduncles erect, 

 13-18 mm. long ; capsule 2-3-valved, 13-15 mm. long. 



Forest near the coast, Sunday Island. 



New Zealand. 



Leguminos.5. 

 Canavalia obtusifolia, D.C. 



Ngaio scrub (Coral Bay), Sunday Island. Meyer and Napier Islets. 

 Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Australia, Tonga, tropics. 



Geraniace^. 



Geranium dissectum, L., var. australe, Benth. 



Chffs, Sunday Island (Cheeseman). 



Norfolk Island, New Zealand, Australia, S. America. 



OXALIDACE^. 



Oxalis corniculata, L. 



Coastal rocks, sand dunes, open places in forest, scrub, bufialo-grass 

 meadow, Sunday Island. Beard-grass meadow, Macauley Island. 



Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, Australia, Tonga, 

 cosmopolitan. 



KUTACE^. 



Melicope ternata, Forst. 



Flowers April to October. 

 Forest, Sundav Island. 

 New Zealand. 



EUPHORBIACE.E. 



Homolanthus polyandrus (Hook, f.), Cheeseman. 



Mr. Cheeseman in 1887 recorded this tree as " not uncommon in sheltered 

 places," and Mr. R. S. Bell, of Sunday Island, states that less than twenty 

 years ago it was abundant in several localities. At the present time there 

 are a few trees near the settlements and a few others in different parts of the 

 island, all on cliffs inaccessible to goats. These animals absolutely deter- 

 mine the existence of the species. They eat the bark from the trunk as high 

 as they can reach, and the tree dies in consequence. Another enemy of the 

 tree is the larva of a small moth. This grub feeds on the leaves, causing 

 them to die, and frequently young plants entirely stripped of their leaves 

 may be seen. 



A few seedlings were seen. Stem erect, terete, bearing prominent scars 

 of fallen leaves, 5 cm. long. Leaves 4 or 5, broadly ovate, obtuse, base 

 not indented, light green with reddish margins. Petioles long, 16-18 mm. ; 

 laminse 15 x 17 mm., 17 x 20 mm. The petiole joins the leaf-blade about 

 1 mm. from the lower edge. Leaf -bud small, 1 mm. long. 



The tree is usually 8-10 m. tall, with a stout eroct stem showing scais 

 of fallen leaves, and moderately dense foliage of delicate leaves which are 



