84 TILIACES. [Aristotelia. 
2. A. Colensoi, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 33.—A shrub or 
small tree 6-15 ft. high, very similar in general appearance to A. 
racemosa, but the leaves are firmer in texture, sometimes narrower 
and ovate-lanceolate, usually quite glabrous, green below. Racemes 
simple, rarely compound, few-flowered. Berry smaller, the size of 
a peppercorn.— Kirk, Students’ Fl. 75. 
Nortu Istanp: Wairarapa Valley, Colenso! SourH Istanp: Subalpine 
forests from Nelson to Otago, apparently not common. 
A puzzling plant. There is an unnamed specimen of old date in Mr. 
Colenso’s herbarium which agrees perfectly with Hooker’s description ; but all 
the South Island specimens that I have seen have broader and less acuminate 
leaves. Probably all are nothing more than forms of A. racemosa. 
3. A. fruticosa, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i, 34.—A very vari- 
able much-branched erect or decumbent shrub 3-8ft. high; 
branches often close and rigid; bark red-brown; branchlets, 
petioles, and pedicels pubescent. Leaves excessively variable, of 
young plants linear or lanceolate, $-1}in. long, acute or acumi- 
nate, toothed lobed or pinnatifid; on mature plants }1uin. 
long, ovate-obovate or oblong-obovate or linear-oblong, obtuse, cori- 
aceous, entire crenate serrate or shortly lobed; petioles short, 
stout. Flowers small, axillary, solitary or in 3-6-flowered racemes 
or cymes; pedicels short, pubescent. Sepals 4, oblong, obtuse, 
pubescent. Petals 4, shorter or longer than the sepals, entire or 
with 1-4 irregular shallow notches at the apex. Stamens 4-6; 
filaments very short. Berry very small, globose. Seeds usually 4. 
—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 88; Kirk, Students’ Fl. 75. A. erecta, Buch. 
in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ii. (1871) 209. Myrsine brachyelada, Col. in 
Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1890) 478. 
NortH AND SoutH Isntanps, STEWART IsLAND: Mountainous districts from 
the Thames southwards, but rare north of the Kast Cape. Ascends to 4000 ft. 
One of the most variable plants in New Zealand. There seem to be two 
well-marked forms—one with an erect and comparatively open habit of growth, 
larger leaves, and 4-6-flowered racemes, answering to the A. erecta of Buchanan ; 
the other is often decumbent, with rigid and interlaced often tortuous branches, 
smaller leaves, and frequently solitary flowers. 
3 ELASOCARPUS, Linn. 
Trees. Leaves usually alternate, entire or serrate, exstipulate. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, rarely polygamous, in axillary racemes. 
Sepals 4 or 5, distinct, valvate. Petals the same number, laciniate 
at the apex, inserted round a cushion-shaped torus. Stamens 
numerous, seated on the torus; anthers long, awned, opening by a 
terminal slit. Ovary 2-5-celled; ovules 2 or more in each ceil, 
pendulous; style subulate; stigma terminal, simple. Fruit a drupe 
with a hard or bony stone, which is 2-5-celled or by abortion 
l-celled. Seeds solitary in each cell, pendulous; albumen fleshy ; 
cotyledons broad. 
