36 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. | Hypericinee. 
not unusual) that no further obliquity or gibbosity of the germen should ensue. The column becoming so evident at 
a later period is also natural, it being well supplied with vascular tissue for the nourishment of the large seed.— 
Myzodendron presents a modification of this structure: the column there bears three ovules, two of which are 
absorbed, but at a later period than in Pennantia ; and the column afterwards becomes a flat cord lying against the 
wall of the cavity of the seed-vessel, with one pendulous seed, and the two undeveloped ovules appearing as swellings 
near the point of suspension. In the absence, then, of specimens enabling me to trace the development of the ovarium 
and fruit of Pennantia, 1 propose, as the probable explanation of its anomalous structure, that the ovarium is normally 
three-celled, the cells being confluent above; that a short erect central column is placed at the confluence of the cells ; 
and that three ovules hang from it, one into each cell. Ata very early period two of the cells and their corresponding 
ovules are absorbed, the germen becomes gibbous, the inner wall of the remaining cell gradually hardens, and 
the vessels of the column thicken at the same time, with the growth of the seed they nourish. The result is a hard 
nut, with a flat cord running up one face, passing through an orifice at the upper extremity of the latter. The deep 
sulcus in the front of the ovule, fig. 7 and 8, is probably due to contraction during drying — PLATE XII. A, female, 
and B, male branch :—natural size. Fig. 1, male flower; 2, pollen; 3, female flower; 4, ovary; 5, 6, vertical 
sections of the same, showing the undeveloped ovules at a; 7, ovule; 8, transverse section of the same; 9, 10, 11, 
ripe fruit; 12, transverse, and 13, longitudinal section of berry; 14, nut and its column (a); 15, front view of 
the same; 16, embryo :—all but fig. 9 magnified. 
Nar. Og». XIV. HYPERICINEA, DC. 
Gen. I. HYPERICUM, Z. 
Sepala 5, imbricata. Petala 5, contorta. Stamina 00, in phalanges collecta v. libera, filamentis 
filiformibus. Ovarium 1-3-loculare; stigmatibus 3. Capsula membranacea, 1-locularis, 3-valvis, valva- 
rum marginibus inflexis; seminibus marginalibus plurimis. 
Erect or procumbent herbs and small shrubs, with the leaves, and sometimes petals and sepals, covered with 
glandular dots. Being the only New Zealand genus of the Order, it may be recognized by the characters of that 
Order itself, which are very strongly marked. The species have a very wide range: both of them are natives of 
either hemisphere, and of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; but being exceedingly variable, their precise distri- 
bution is not well ascertained. (Name, the örnpırov of Dioscorides.) 
1. Hypericum gramineum, Forst.; caule simplici v. e basi diviso et superne dichotomo erecto v. sub- 
erecto tetragono, foliis oblongis obtusis sessilibus subcordatis punctatis marginibus plerumque revolutis, 
sepalis oblongis obtusis v. ovatis acuminatis punctatis integerrimis, petalis calyce longioribus, staminibus 
fere liberis, capsula conica. Forst. Prodr. Lab. Austro-Caled. p. 53. t. 53. H. involutum, Lab. et Auct. 
H. aureum, Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic. H. Japonicum, Auct. in part. Brathys Billardieri, Spach. 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands; not uncommon. Last coast, Banks and Solander, Colenso. 
Akaroa, Raoul. 
An erect herb, a span or so long. Stems slender, with four rather membranous angles, simple or dichoto- 
mously branched, very much so in the New Caledonian specimens figured by Labillardiére, and in some Tasmanian 
ones; but not at all so in Forster’s original specimens, and sparingly so in my New Zealand ones. Leaves 2-1 inch 
long, suberect, oblong, sessile, blunt, base cordate, covered with black dots, flat or with the margin revolute. Flowers 
on short or long peduncles, 4-1 inch across, variable in size, as are the golden-yellow petals, which often curl in- 
wards as they wither. Sepals oblong, blunt or sharp. Stamens numerous, hardly united at the base into bundles. 
Capsule conical, three-valved, with three styles, membranous.—This very variable plant is common in Australia and 
Tasmania; it closely resembles H. linearifolium, DC., of Europe CH. linariifolium, Vahl), and is probably the 
H. pedicellare, Endl., of Swan River, and H. Lalandii, Choisy, of the Cape of Good Hope. From Mexico and Peru 
