232 ARALIACE. [Meryta. 
or slightly connate at the base, their tips at length recurved. Fruit 
broadly oblong or nearly globose ; endocarp succulent; cells 3-6, 
l-seeded. Seeds compressed. 
A small genus of from 10 to 15 species, most abundant in New Caledonia, 
but extending eastwards to Tahiti and southwards to Norfolk Island and New 
Zealand. The single species found in New Zealand is endemic. 
1. M. Sinclairii, Seem. in Bonplandia, x. (1862) 295.—A very 
handsome round-headed small tree 8-25 ft. high; trunk 6-18in. 
diam.; branches stout, brittle. Leaves very large, crowded to- 
wards the ends of the branches; petiole stout, 4-15 in. long; blade 
10-20in. long or more, oblong-obovate or oblong, obtuse, slightly 
cordate at the base, very coriaceous, smooth and shining, strongly 
veined ; margins entire, slightly undulate, bordered with a stout 
vein. Panicles stout, erect, terminal, 6-18in. long; branches 
jointed on the rhachis. Male flowers sessile in clusters of 4-8, 
with a broad bract at the base of each cluster. Calyx-limb obso- 
lete. Petals 4, ovate-oblong. Stamens 4; filaments slender, ex- 
serted. Female flowers irregularly crowded, with a bract at the 
base of each. Calyx asin the males. Petals 4—5, ovate-triangular. 
Abortive stamens present. Styles 4-5, free to the base. Fruit 
4-4 in. long, broadly oblong, succulent, black and shining, 4—5-celled. 
Seeds solitary in each cell, compressed, bony.—Hook. f. Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. 104; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 121; Students’ Fl. 220. Botrvo- 
dendrum Sinelairii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 97. 
Nort Istanp: Three Kings Islands, 7. F. C.; Hen and Chickens (Tara- 
nga Islands), Hutton and Kirk! T. F.C. Puka. February—May. 
The specimens on which Sir Joseph Hooker founded the species were ob- 
tained from a solitary tree planted by the Maoris at Paparaumu, in Whangaruru 
Harbour; but it is not known in an indigenous state on any part of the main- 
land, and must be considered one of the rarest species of the New Zealand fiora. 
The Maoris state that it exists on the Poor Knights Islands, between Whangarei 
and the Bay of Islands, but I have seen no specimens from thence. 
5. SCHEFFLERA, Forst. 
Glabrous shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, digitately 
compound; leaflets serrulate. Flowers polygamous, in small um- 
bels arranged in a racemose manner on the branches of a spreading 
panicle; pedicels not articulate. Calyx-limb minutely 5-toothed. 
Petals 5, valvate. Stamens 5. Disc large, with undulate margins. 
Ovary 5-10-celled ; styles the same number as the cells, connate 
below, free and spreading above. Fruit subglobose, 5-10-celled ; 
exocarp fleshy; seeds 1 in each cell. 
In addition to the single New Zealand species, which is endemic, there are 
one or two in the Fiji Islands, and several in New Caledonia. 
1. S. digitata, Forst. Char. Gen. 46.—A small tree 10-25 ft. 
high, with stout spreading branches. Leaves on sheathing petioles 
4-9in. long, digitately 7-10-foliolate; leaflets 3-7in., petiolate, 
