622 LORANTHACEX. [ Viscum. 
solitary or fascicled in the axils of the leaves or at the nodes of the 
branches, rarely terminal. Perianth-tube of the male flowers very 
short and solid, of the females adnate to the ovary; limb 3-4- 
partite. Anthers as many as the perianth-segments and sessile on 
them, broadly ovate or oblong, opening by pores on the inner side. 
Ovary inferior; stigma large, pulvinate, sessile or nearly so. Fruit 
a 1-seeded berry, usually crowned by the remains of the perianth- 
segments; mesocarp succulent and viscid. Albumen copious, 
fleshy ; embryos 1 or 2 in each seed. 
About 30 species are known, widely spread through the tropical and 
temperate regions of the Old World. 
Joints flat, broadly obovate, 4-4in. long, 4-4in. broad. 
Flowers spicate, the spikes in lateral pairs and 1-3 
terminal .. .. Ll. V. Lindsayi. 
Joints flat, linear- spathulate, Pee in. long, xo- kin. broad. 
Flowers spicate, the spikes always solitary .. .. 2. V. clavatum. 
Joints terete, ~,-}in. long, in. broad. Flowers sessile, 
in whorls between the joints sc ae .. 3. V.salicornioides. 
1. V. Lindsayi, Oliver ex Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fil. 108.—A 
small succulent perfectly glabrous sparingly branched leafless little 
plant 2-6in. high; branches opposite, divaricate, jointed; joints 
much flattened, +-4in. long, 4-4in. broad, broadly obovate to 
obovate-spathulate, coriaceous, dark-oreen, often punctate. Spikes 
usually 2 (rarely 4) to each node and 1 to 3 at the top of the 
terminal joint, about +in. long, jointed, the tip of each successive 
joint expanded and enclosing a whorl of 6-10 closely packed flowers. 
Flowers very minute, dicecious; the males pyriform, of 3 fleshy 
perianth-segments, each bearing a sessile anther on its inner face ; 
the females of an ovoid ovary crowned by 3-4 perianth-lobes. Fruit 
obovoid, jin. long, tipped by the persistent perianth -lobes. — 
Lindsay, Contr. N.Z. Bot. 52, t. 2. 
Nortu Istanp: Hawke’s Bay—Norsewood, Colenso! Patangata, Tryon ! 
Soutu Istanp: Marlborough—Pelorus Sound, Macmahon! Canterbury—Near 
Christchurch, Armstrong. Otago—Vicinity of Dunedin, Lindsay, Buchanan ! 
Petrie! Winton, Kirk! October—February. 
Parasitic on Sophora, Melicope, Myrtus, Metrosideros, Coprosma, Myr- 
sine, &e. 
2. V. clavatum, 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv. (1892) 429, 
t. 37.—Very closely allied to V. Lindsayi, and perhaps only a 
variety, but a smaller plant, seldom more than 2 in. high, with the 
etnse of the stem much narrower, linear-spathulate, ++in. long, 
#5-hin. broad. Spikes apparently always solitary, either terminal 
or from the nodes. Male flowers not seen, but female flowers 
and fruit quite like those of V. Lindsay. 
SoutH Isuanp : Canterbury—Castle Hill Basin, 2000-3000 ft., Hnys ! Kirk! 
pA opin 6 2 
Paragitic on Avristotelia fruticosa, Discaria, and Coprosmdy 
