Vitex.| VERBENACEZ!. 565 
Calyx 5-toothed or -lobed. Corolla-tube short; limb oblique, 
2-lipped; lobes 5, the lowest one usually larger than the rest. 
Stamens 4, didynamous, usually exserted; anther-cells distinct. 
Ovary 2—4-celled ; ovules solitary or 2 in each cell; style filiform, 
shortly 2-lobed. Drupe globose or obovoid, more or less succulent ; 
endocarp bony, usually 4-celled. Seeds obovate or oblong, albumen 
wanting. 
A large genus of about 70 species, scattered through most tropical and sub- 
tropical regions, rare or absent in temperate climates. The New Zealand 
species is endemic. 
1. V. lucens, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxix. (1897) 525.— 
A large handsome tree 40-60 ft. high, with a massive trunk 2-5 ft. 
diam., and a large crown of spreading branches; branchlets tetra- 
gonous, glabrous. Leaves on long stout petioles 3-5 in. long ; 
leaflets 3-5, shortly petioled, 2-5 in. long, elliptic-oblong or obovate, 
abruptly acute or almost acuminate, entire, quite glabrous, dark- 
green and glossy. Flowers abundantly produced, dull-red, about 
lin. long, arranged in 4-15-flowered dichotomously branched 
axillary panicles. Calyx short, cup-shaped, truncate or obscurely 
5-toothed. Corolla pubescent, 2-lipped ; upper lip arched, entire or 
bifid; lower lip deflexed, 3-lobed. Drupe subglobose, bright-red, 
2-3in. diam.; endocarp bony, 4-celled; seeds seldom more than 
1 or 2.—Y. littoralis, A. Cuwnn. Precur. n. 390 (not of Decaisne) ; 
Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 419, 420; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. 
Zel. i. 203; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 223; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 105. 
Nortu Istanp: Abundant from the North Cape to the Waikato and Upper 
Thames, then sparingly southwards to Mahia Peninsula and Cape Egmont. 
Sea-level to 2500 ft. Puriri; Kauere. June—October. 
A well-known tree, producing the most valuable hardwood in the colony, ex- 
tensively used for all purposes requiring great strength and durability, as rail- 
way-sleepers, the framework of bridges, piles, house-blocks, &c. Also greatly 
employed for furniture and cabinetwork, and quite equal in figure and general 
appearance to the best Italian or American walnut. 
2. TEUCRIDIUM, Hook. t. 
A much-branched shrub; branchlets slender, 4-angled. Leaves 
small, opposite, petiolate, entire. Flowers axillary, solitary. Calyx 
broadly campanulate, 5-lobed; lobes acute. Corolla-tube short; 
limb oblique, spreading, 2-lipped, 5-lobed; the lower lobe the 
largest. Stamens 4, didynamous, attached to the base of the 
corolla-tube, far exserted ; anthers 1-celled. Ovary villous at the 
tip, 4-lobed, imperfectly 4-celled ; ovules 1 in each cell, pendulous ; 
style slender, arcuate, 2-fid; branches subulate, shortly stigmatose. 
Fruit small, sunk in the persistent calyx, 4-lobed to the middle, 
ultimately splitting into 4 hispid pyrenes. Seed solitary in each 
pyrene, laterally affixed ; albumen wanting ; cotyledons large. 
