78 MALVACEA. [Plagianthus. 
the base, membranous; petioles slender, $-lin. long. Flowers 
small, unisexual, very numerous, in terminal and axillary decom- 
pound panicles 4-9 in. long; pedicels slender. Calyx campanulate, 
5-toothed. Petals oblong-spathulate, obtuse, clawed, much smaller 
in the female flowers. Staminai column exserted in the males, 
long and slender, bearing numerous almost sessile anthers at the 
tip. Fruiting carpels tin. diam., seated in the persistent veined 
calyx, ovoid, acuminate, downy. Seed solitary.—Raoul, Choix de 
Plantes, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1. 29; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 30; 
Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 103, 104; Students’ Fl. 71. P. urticinus, A. 
Cunn. Precur. n. 606. P. chathamica, Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xxxiv. (1902) 319 (name only). Philippodendron regium, 
Poit. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. i. vill. t. 3.. 
NortH AND SouTH IsLANnpDs, STEWART IsLAND, CHATHAM IsLANDS: Low- 
land forests from Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards, but often local. Ascends 
to 1500 ft. November—December. Ribbon-wood of Europeans; manatu of 
the Maoris. 
Practically dicecious, although a few hermaphrodite flowers are sometimes 
mixed with the males. The male flowers are whitish-yellow, and are produced 
in immense profusion; the ovary is much reduced in size, and the style always 
included in the staminal column. The females are greenish, smaller and less 
numerous, the petals are smaller and adnate for some distance to the staminal 
column, the anthers are devoid of pollen, and the style exserted. 
Mr. Cockayne separates his P. chathanvica on the ground of its not passing 
through a young stage with foliage differing from that of the mature tree. 
Flowering specimens from the Chatham Islands in my herbarium have rather 
larger calyces than the type, but I can see no other difference. For a full 
description of the seedlings and young plants of both forms, reference should be 
made to Mr. Cockayne’s paper, ‘‘ An Inquiry into the Seedling Forms of New 
Zealand Phanerogams and their Development, Part IV.” (Trans. N.Z. Inst. 
Xxxiii. 273-282). 
2. HOHERIA, A. Cunn, 
A shrub or small tree. Leaves petiolate, alternate, serrate. 
Flowers numerous, in axillary fascicles, white ; peduncles jointed at 
the middle. Bracteoles wanting. Calyx hemispherical, 5-toothed. 
Petals oblique, notched near the apex. Staminal column split at 
the top into numerous filaments, usually arranged in 5 bundles. 
Ovary 5-celled, rarely more ; ovules 1 in each cell; style-branches 
as many as the cells, filiform ; stigmas capitate. Fruiting carpels 5, 
placed round a central axis from which they fall away when ripe, 
indehiscent, furnished with a broad membranous wing at the back. 
Seed pendulous. 
A genus confined to New Zealand. It is doubtful whether it should be 
regarded as composed of one highly variable species or of 3 or 4 closely allied 
ones. 
1. H. populnea, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 600.—A small handsome 
tree 10-30ft. high, glabrous except the young shoots, peduncles, 
and calyces, which are usually more or less pubescent; bark tough. 
Leaves extremely variable, especially in young plants, ranging from 
