Brewiacea. | FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 81 
solitary terminal white flowers appear on a level with them. Calyx tube obconical; limb in the New Zealand 
species of five equal regular lobes; in the American, of three to seven irregularly placed lobes, of unequal length. 
Petals five, regular in the New Zealand plant; more numerous, irregular, and passing into the calyx-lobes in the 
American. Disc broad, flat. Stamens few, placed near the centre; the filaments free or cohering round the styles, of 
which there are two to three. Ovary obconic, two- to three-celled, with many ovules suspended from a projecting pla- 
centa at the upper inner angle of each cell. Capsule coriaceous, indehiscent ?— The New Zealand plant appears to 
have all the flowers fertile, and they are regular in the number and disposition of their parts; the American plant, 
again, is apparently unisexual, and has the calyx lobes and petals very irregularly placed. (Named in honour of 
Antonio Donati, a Venetian botanist and physician.) 
1. Donatia Nove-Zelandie, Hook. fil.; foliis linearibus subacutis carnosis glaberrimis basi sericeis, 
calycis lobis petalisque 5 regularibus, staminibus 2, stylis 9 brevibus basi connatis, ovario 2-loculari. 
Tas. XVIII. 
Has. Mountains of the Southern Island, Dr. Lyall. 
Stems very short, an inch or two high, branched, densely leafy, sending down here and there very stout simple 
roots ; including the leaves, as thick as the little finger. Leaves bright green, the lower red-brown, closely imbricated 
in many series, erect, appressed, + inch long, linear, thick and coriaceous, blunt, nerveless. Flowers sessile, sunk 
among the leaves in the ends of the branches, solitary. Calyx 4 line long; lobes ovate, acute. Petals white, 
thick, and fleshy, 1 line long, ovate-oblong, blunt. Filaments short. Anthers extrorse. Styles shorter than the 
stamens, with capitate stigmas.—PrATE XVIII. Fig. 1,2, leaves; 3, 4, flowers; 5, vertical, and 6, longitudinal 
section of ovary :—all magnified. 
NAT. On». XXXVII. BREXIACEA, Lindi. 
Gen, I. IXERBA, 4. Cunn. 
Sepala 5, patentia, imbricata. Petala 5, sub disco hypogyno obscure 5-lobo inserta, imbricata. 
Stamina 5, disci lobis alterna. Ovarium superum, disco cinctum, conicum, in stylum strictum rectum 
acutum sulcatum attenuatum, 5-loculare; ovulis geminis, collateralibus, funiculo brevi lato loculi angulo 
interiori affixis, ascendentibus, anatropis.  Capsw/a coriaceo-carnosa, libera, depresso-globosa, 5-loba, 
5-locularis, stylo 10-sulcato torto terminata, loculicide 5-valvis; valvis basi confluentibus, apice bifidis. 
Semina loculis solitaria, reniformi-oblonga, hilo lato adnata; festa coriaceo-crustacea, nitida; albumen 
0; embryo membrana propria inclusus, obovatus; cotyledonibus magnis, plano-convexis; radicula parva, 
supera. ` 
This beautiful plant, the only one of its genus, forms a small evergreen branching tree, with exstipulate, petio- 
late, alternate, opposite or ternate, coriaceous, linear-lanceolate, sinuato-serrate leaves, and terminal panicles of a few 
large white flowers. Calyx of five imbricated silky sepals. Corolla of as many long, spreading, white, coriaceous 
petals. Stamens 5 ; filaments long, erect, inserted under the edge of a 5-lobed spreading disc, which occupies the 
centre of the flower, and is continuous with the conical ovarium ; anthers subsagittate or oblong, acute. Ovary 
five-celled, terminating in a stout, erect, twisted, sharp, ten-furrowed style; ovules two, side by side in each cell. 
Capsule free, coriaceous, five-celled, opening at the top by five valves, each terminated with two awns, which are 
portions of the style, which latter splits from below upwards into ten pieces; cells smooth and shining inside. 
Seeds one in each cell, projecting from the open valves, when still attached by their broad short funiculi. Testa 
polished, clouded grey and black.— The nearest allies of this are a New Caledonian genus, Argophyllum, Forst., 
and Brewia, a Madagascar plant. To the latter its affinity is so very close, that Cunningham anagrammed Brewia 
into Jverba. It differs from that plant in having few ovules, and in wanting a fringed disc. 
UL 
