168 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
The willow-herb family (Onagraceae) must soon become known to 
the botanical student through the large genus Hpilobiwm (40 species). 
The species of this genus are not yet well known, and they are 
difficult for a beginner to determine. Some are distinctly pretty— 
eg., E. pallidiflorum, E. macropus, E. vernicosum, and E. chloraefolium 
var. kaikourense. Others become terrible weeds in an alpine garden 
—e.g., E. nummularifolium, various varieties of EH. pedunculare, and 
E. lVinnaeoides. The fuchsias, of which there are 3 New Zealand 
species, belong to the same family. 
The myrtle family (Myrtaceae), with 20 species, contains the orna- 
mental genera Metrosideros, Myrtus, Leptospermum, and Eugenia, 
this latter, with 1 New Zealand species (HZ. mavzre), found only in 
swamp-forest. 
The pimelea family (Thymelaeaceae) should be known to all who 
love a garden, as containing the various species of Daphne. In New 
Zealand the family is represented by Pimelea (14 species), and Drapetes 
(3 species). Pimelea longifolia and P. Gnidia are fine handsome 
shrubs; P. prostrata, mm various varieties, is exceedingly common 
in open country; and P. arenaria is a rather remarkable dune- 
shrub. Drapetes consists of 6 species only (1 Australian, 1 Fuegian, 
1 Bornean and New Guinea, and 3 New Zealand). D. Dreffen- 
bachii is a common moss-like plant of the high mountains which 
descends into the montane belt. 
The violet family (Vzolaceae) contains in New Zealand not only 
ordinary violets (Viola) (fig. 95), but actual trees and shrubs. These 
latter, unlike violets proper, have flowers regular in form, and 
berries, not capsules, containing the seeds. It is hard to conceive 
anything more unlike the ordinary conception of a violet than 
is the divaricating shrub Hymenanthera crassifolia, or the mahoc 
(Melicytus ramiflorus), a more or less bushy tree. 
The mallow family (Malvaceae) is very showy, and contains some 
small trees most valuable for garden purposes, as the lacebarks and 
ribbonwoods (Hoheria, Plagianthus, and Gaya). 
To the Elaeocarpaceae belongs the wineberry (Aristotelia race- 
mosa), one of the “ fire weeds” of New Zealand—i.e., a plant which 
comes up abundantly after a forest is burned. Here also comes that 
fine tree the hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus) and the pokaka (£. Hookeri- 
anus), both with distinct juvenile and adult forms, but of a very 
different type in each species. 
