THE MYRSINE FAMILY 331 



Other species of Dracophyllum are D. Urvilleanum, some- 

 what resembHng D. lotigifolmm, but much smaller. It is 

 found in both islands. D. rosmarmifoUu?n (The Eosemary- 

 leaved Grass-tree) is a small, often prostrate, alpine species of 

 the South Island, with obtuse leaves and with the flowers 

 solitary or in pairs. D. suhulatum is an allied form with 

 pungent leaves, found only in the North Island. 



Myrsinaceae. 



The Myrsine Family. 



Distribution. — An unimportant family, chiefly tropicaL A few, however, 

 reach Cape Colony, New Zealand, and Florida. They are only to be 

 distinguished from the primroses by their fruit and habit. They differ from the 

 Sapotaceae in not having a chambered ovary. According to Mez,* the family 

 contains some 900 species and 32 genera. These plants are, however, of little 

 economic value. 



Key to the Genera. 

 Petals completely free. Suttonia.+ 



Petals more or less united, sometimes only at the base, 



but more often through a thml of then- length. Rapanea, p. 331. 



f See, however, Cheeseman's " Flora," for remarks on this nomenclature. 



Genus Suttonia. 



A large genus of trees and shrubs. Flowers usually fascicled, small. Calyx 

 4, rarely 2 or 0. Petals 4, deciduous. Fruit a drupe. (Named in honour of 

 Sutton, an English botanist.) 



Suttonia divaricata (The Divaricate Suttonia). 

 A straggling bush. Leaves and flowers very small, the former J in. long, 

 the latter ^ in. in diameter. Drupe round, depressed. Both islands : damp 

 bush. Also Lord Auckland's Group. Fl. Oct. -Nov. 



Genus Bapanea. 



Sepals small, 4-5 ; sometimes almost free, sometimes united at the base. 

 Petals 4-5, generally papillose on the margin. Stamens inserted on the throat 

 of the corolla, sessile. Fruit spherical, dry or fleshy. Trees or shrubs, with 

 entire, rarely toothed leaves. 



*Cockayne, Trans. XXXV. p. 355 



