38 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [Meliacee. 
bous, or subguadrate, containing one round seed half enveloped in a scarlet fleshy arillus. (Name from aAekrpvov, 
a cock, from the resemblance of the scarlet arillus to a cock’s comb.) 
1. Alectryon excelswm, DO. Prodr. v. 1. p. 617. 4. Cunn. Prodr. Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 870. Euony- 
moides excelsa, Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic. 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands. Bay of Islands, Cunningham, ete. East coast, Banks and 
Solander. - Nat. name, “ Titoki” and * Titongi” of southern parts of North Island, Colenso. 
Cunningham says that an oil was once extracted from the seeds, and used for anointing the person; but that 
whale-oil has now superseded it. 
Gen. II. DODONAA, Z. 
Flores polygami. Sepala 3-5. Corolla 0. Stamina 5-00, receptaculo inserta; filamentis brevissimis. 
Ovarium sessile, 2-5-gonum, 2-5-loculare; ovulis loculis. 2, superimpositis. Capsula membranacea, 
2-5-valvis; valvis dorso alatis, a columna centrali erecta persistente alata solutis. Semina loculis 2 
(abortu 1); testa crustacea. 
The only New Zealand species is found over a great part of the world, being a native of the Pacific Islands, 
Australia, Tasmania, the Indian Archipelago, Arabia, and West Africa. In Asia it extends from Afghanistan to 
Cape Comorin, in South America from Jamaica to the River Plate on the east coast, and from Mexico to Southern 
Peru on the west: it is chiefly a littoral plant, but also found inland. I believe it has many botanical names, from 
varying considerably in the form of its leaves, and to some extent in that of the wings of the capsule. —In New 
Zealand the Dodonea viscosa forms a small tree, 2-6 feet high, with a very hard wood, variegated black and white, 
and viscid young leaves and fruit; upper branches compressed or angled, smooth, viscid. Leaves alternate, on 
short petioles, linear-obovate, blunt, sharp or notched, narrowed into a short petiole, smooth, 2-3 inches long. 
Flowers in terminal panicles, erect, small, green. Sepals ovate, subacute. Anthers large in proportion to the size of 
the flower, almost sessile. Fruit on elongated slender peduncles, two- to three-valved ; valves with broad, rounded, 
oblong, membranous, veined wings, 4 inch long. Seeds with a dark red-brown testa. (Named in honour of Rambert 
Dodoens, a German botanist of the sixteenth century.) 
1. Dodonzea viscosa, Forst. ; arbuscula glaberrima, viscosa, foliis obovatis spathulatis lineari-oblongisve 
in petiolum brevem angustatis, capsula 2-8-alata, alis membranaceis orbiculari-oblongis. Zinn. Mant. 
Forst. Prodr. DC. Prodr. D. spathulata, Smith. A. Rich. A. Cunn. D. Burmanniana, DC. e£ Auct. 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands; abundant, especially in dry woods, Banks and Solander, etc. 
Fl. October. Nat. name, “ Ake,” Colenso. 
The hard wood is much prized for clubs by the natives. 
Nat. Or. XVI. MELIACEA, Juss. 
Gen. I. HARTIGHSEA, Adr. de Juss. 
Calyx 4-5-lobus. Petala 4-5, linearia, valvata, basi cum tubo stamineo obscure coalita. Tubus 
stamineus carnosus, cylindraceus, 8-10-crenatus ; antheris 8-10, ore insertis, inclusis. Discus cylindraceus. 
Ovarium 3-loculare, loculis 2-ovulatis; stylo simplici, erecto; stigmate disciformi. Capsula 3-5-locularis, 
loculicide 3-5-valvis; loculis 2- (abortu 1-) spermis. Semina arillata. 
A large tree, 40-50 feet high. Leaves pinnate. Flowers paniculate. Calyx very small, four- to five-lobed. 
Corolla of four to five linear, blunt, valvate petals. Filaments united into a cylindrical, fleshy, crenate tube, bearing 
eight to ten anthers within the mouth. Ovary included within a tubular hypogynous disc, three-celled. Style long, 
