Pisonia. | NYOCTAGINES. 575 
KerMADEC Isnanps: Not uncommon, 7. F. C. Nort Istaxp: Three 
Kings Islands, 7. F'. C.; Whangape Harbour, Berggren, McLennan! between 
Whangarei and Ngunguru, Colenso ! Henand Chickens Islands, Kirk! T. F.C. ; 
Great Barrier Island, Arid Island, Kirk! Little Barrier Island, Cuvier Island, 
T. F. C.; Cabbage Bay, Adams! East Cape, Bishop Williams ! Sea-level 
to 500 ft. Parapara. Flowers most of the year. 
Also found in Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, and 
Queensland. The fruits are so excessively viscid that small birds, such as the 
white-eye (Zosterops) and fantail (Rhipidwra), are often caught and glued down 
by the feathers, and fail to free themselves. 
Orpver LXII. ILLECEBRACEA. 
Annual or perennial often tufted herbs. Leaves opposite or 
alternate, simple; stipules scarious (wanting in Scleranthus). 
Flowers usually hermaphrodite, regular, inconspicuous. Perianth 
(calyx) inferior, herbaceous or coriaceous, persistent and often 
hardened in fruit; lobes 4-5, imbricate. Petals usually wanting. 
Stamens hypogynous or perigynous, as many as the perianth-lobes 
and opposite to them or fewer by abortion, sometimes a single one 
only ; filaments short, subulate; anthers small, didymous. Ovary 
superior, ovoid, 1-celled; style terminal, 2-3-fid; ovule solitary, 
erect or pendulous from a basal funicle. Fruit a utricle enclosed in 
the persistent perianth. Seed with farinaceous albumen; embryo 
usually annular. 
A small order, found in most parts of the world, mainly composed of weedy 
inconspicuous plants of no economic value. Genera 17; species about 90. The 
New Zealand genus is found in the temperate regions of both hemispheres. 
1. SCLERANTHUS, Linn. 
Small rigid usually densely tufted annual or perennial herbs. 
Leaves opposite, connate at the base, subulate, often serrulate ; 
stipules wanting. Flowers small, green, axillary, solitary or 2 
together, or in little cymes or fascicles. Perianth funnel-shaped or 
urceolate or turbinate, 4—5-toothed or-lobed. Stamens 1, 2, 5, or 10, 
inserted on the throat of the perianth; filaments subulate; anthers 
didymous. Ovary ovoid; styles 2, distinct; stigmas capitellate, 
Fruit a membranous utricle enclosed in the persistent and hardened 
perianth. Seed lenticular; testa smooth; embryo annular. 
_ Species about 12, scattered through Europe, temperate and subtropical 
Asia, Africa, and Australasia. The single New Zealand species is also found in 
Australia. 
1. S. biflorus, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 74.—A small densely 
branched glabrous or minutely pubescent perennial herb, usually 
forming compact cushions 1-4in. diam. or more, rarely laxly 
branched with the stems creeping and elongating to 6in. Leaves 
crowded and imbricating, rarely remote, ;,-;,in. long, narrow- 
