Poranthera. | EUPHORBIACE). 629 
SoutH Isntanp: Nelson—Fagus forest in the Maitai Valley, 7. Ff. C., 
Kingsley !_ Marlborough—Pelorus and Tinline Valleys, abundant, Macmahon ! 
December—February. 
Widely distributed in Australia and Tasmania, 
2. P. alpina, Cheesem. mm Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 300.— 
Perfectly glabrous, 2-5in. high; branches numerous, decumbent or 
suberect, usually densely compacted and interlaced, rarely open, 
scarred, often somewhat woody at the base. Leaves all uniform, 
opposite, crowded, sessile or very shortly petiolate, {-+in. long, 
linear-oblong, obtuse, quite entire, smooth and veinless above ; 
margins revolute, concealing the whole of the under-surface except 
the very thick and prominent midrib; stipules rather large, trian- 
ular. Flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves, forming 
short leafy heads, minute, greenish-white, dicecious; peduncles 
shorter than the leaves. Petals wanting in both sexes. Sepals 5, 
oblong, obtuse. Stamens shorter than the sepals ; filaments slender. 
Ovary subglobose, 6-lobed, 3-celled. Capsule globose-depressed. 
—Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 1366. 
SoutH Is~tanp: Nelson—Mount Arthur, Mount Owen, 7’. F.C.; Mount 
Murchison, Townson ! 3000-5000 ft. December—January. 
3. ALEURITES, Forst. 
Trees with stellate pubescence. Leaves alternate, petiolate, 
large, entire or 3-7-lobed. Flowers in terminal cymes, monecious. 
Male flowers: Calyx splitting into 2-3 valvate segments. Petals 5, 
longer than the calyx. Stamens 8-20, on a central receptacle, 
5 outer opposite the petals, alternating with 5small glands; anthers 
adnate, cells parallel. Female flowers: Calyx and petals of the 
males. Ovary 2-5-celled ; styles 2-5, bifid; ovules 1 in each cell. 
Fruit large, drupaceous; exocarp somewhat fleshy; endocarp 
1-5-celled. Seeds large; testa thick, woody; cotyledons broad, 
flat. 
A small genus of 3 species, natives of eastern Asia and the Pacific islands. 
1. A. moluccana, Willd. Sp. Plant. iv. 590.— A handsome 
spreading tree 30-40 ft. high or more; young leaves and branches 
more or less clothed with pale or ferruginous stellate pubescence, 
almost glabrous when old. Leaves crowded towards the ends of the 
branches, 4-9in. long, very variable in shape, ovate-lanceolate to 
broadly rhomboid-ovate, obtuse or acute, entire or 3—5- or 7T-lobed. 
Cymes broad, much branched, tomentose; pedicels short. Flowers 
numerous, white. Calyx very small, tomentose. Petals about 
iin. long, obovate, bearded at the base. Stamens 15-20; filaments 
short, hairy. Female flowers fewer and smaller than the males. 
Fruit 2in. diam., smooth, fleshy; seeds 1-2, rarely 3; testa rugose. 
—Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 128; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. 
(1888) 172. A. triloba, Forst. Char. Gen. 112, t. 56. 
