174 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [Sapotee. 
Nat. On». LII. SAPOTEAS, Juss. 
Gen. I. SAPOTA, Plum. 
Sepala 4-6, imbricata. Corolla tubuloso-campanulata, ad medium 4-6-loba; lobis appendicibus subu- 
latis alternantibus. Stamina 4-6, corolle lobis inserta; filamentis brevibus; antheris extrorsis. Ovariwm 
ovoideum v. globosum, 4-12-loeulare. Stylus erectus, glaber. Stigma inclusum. Ovula solitaria. Bacca 
1-pauci-locularis. Semen nucumentaceum; testa ossea, nitida; albumen carnosum; cotyledones ample, 
foliaceze. 
The only New Zealand species forms a small tree 20 fect. high, with bright evergreen foliage, and solitary in- 
conspicuous pedicellate flowers scattered along the branchlets, distant from the axils of the leaves, but at the scars of 
those that have fallen away. Young branches hoary, with very inconspicuous appressed down. Leaves quite gla- 
brous except the petiole and base, which are downy, petiolate, 2-3 inches long, coriaceous, elliptical-obovate, blunt, 
reticulately veined on both surfaces. Pedicels stout, curved, ž inch long. Flowers (some perfect, others neuter, and 
some apparently female only) globose, + inch diameter, never spreading open. Calyw of four (rarely five) orbi- 
cular, imbricate, unequal, concave, ciliated, fleshy pieces. Corolla tubular, with four imbricate lobes, erect, pro- 
jecting a little beyond the ealyx, and with an ovate subulate fleshy scale placed in front of the junction of each 
pair of lobes, Stamens short, small, sunk in the hollow face of the petals. Filaments broad, fleshy. Anthers 
bursting by slits opening towards the petal. Ovary very hairy, globose, with stout erect style and simple stigma, 
four-celled. Ovules solitary, suspended by broad ventral cords from the middle of the inner angle of each cell. 
Fruit an oblong or round one-celled berry, variable in size and shape, often as large as a walnut, containing one 
elliptical, long, flattened, chestnut-brown, polished seed, with a bony testa, marked with a broad, flat, rough line down 
the inner side, by which it is attached to the cavity of the pericarp. nner coat much veined, membranous. Albu- 
men fleshy ; embryo as broad and long as the albumen, of two thin ovate cotyledons, and a terete radicle pointing 
downwards. At the upper extremity of the rough mark on the testa is a little hole, through which the nutrient 
vessels of the cord go. The neuter (?) flowers have short, ovate, concave, fleshy petals, scarcely united at the base, 
and flat, short, rudimentary anthers, and an ovate blunt ovarium without stigma or style, containing four cells, 
which are confluent at the top, the ovules hanging from a little central column just below the point of confluence. 
In the male flowers, the ovary has the same characters, but the petals are larger and the stamens perfect.—The 
genus Sapota consists chiefly of tropical Asiatic, African, and American plants, a few being Australian, Cape of Good 
Hope, and North American. Most have milky juice, which forms the “ Gutta percha ” of the allied genus /sonandra. 
The bark of many is bitter and a febrifuge, and their seeds often yield abundance of oil by pressure. The Star- 
apple, Sapodilla plum, and many other tropical fruits belong to this genus and order, whilst the seeds of some of 
them are reputed poisonous, but being enclosed in a hard bony testa do not prevent the use of the fruit containing 
them. (Name, the West Indian for one species that produces an excellent fruit.) 
1. Sapota costata, Alph. DO.; ramulis appresse puberulis, foliis obovatis obtusis breve petiolatis 
glaberrimis utrinque venosis, floribus (stirp. Nov. Zeland.) tetrameris (Norf. Ins.) pentameris, ovario 4-5- 
loculari, bacca 1-loculari, semine lineari-elliptico utrinque subacuto. Alph. DC. Prodr. v. 8. p. 179. Endl. 
Prodr. Fl. Norf. Isid. p. 49. Icon. Gen. t. 4240. A. Cunn. Prodr. 
Has. Northern Island. Wangarei Bay, Colenso. Coast opposite the Cavallos io, R. Cunningham. 
Nat. name, “ Tawaapou,” Col. 
This seems identical with specimens of Achras costata, Endl. in Hook. Herb., except that the flowers are all 
but uniformly tetramerous (not pentamerous). The plate in Endlicher's * Iconographia’ is a very bad representation of 
