Oleinee. | FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 175 
the foliage of this, if it belong to the same species, the leaves being represented as linear and blunt, and their veins 
at right angles with the costa. 
Nar. Oro. LIII. OLEINEA, Hoff. 
Gen. I. OLEA, Z. 
Calyx monophyllus, irregulariter lobatus. Corolla monopetala v. 0. Drupa baccata.—Species Nov 
Zelandiæ arborescentes ; floribus polygamo-dioicis ; calyce urceolari, petalisque 0. 
À genus of shrubs or large trees, to which the European Olive belongs ; it has three New Zealand representa- 
tives, belonging to Endlicher’s section Gymnelea, all forming trees, with exceedingly variable evergreen leaves, and 
all having, as far as I have observed, very imperfect apetalous unisexual flowers, the stamens in the female flowers 
bearing no pollen, and the ovarium in the male flowers being rudimentary. Branches with white bark. Leaves op- 
posite or alternate, exstipulate, evergreen, entire. Flowers inconspicuous, in axillary short panicles. Male calyx 
unequally two- to four-lobed. Stamens two, opposite, with large exserted anthers, opening by lateral slits. Calyx 
of the Jemale flower larger, urceolate, unequally four-lobed, with two included compressed anthers and an oblong ovary, 
with one short style and two curved stigmas. Ovary two-celled, each cell with two suspended ovules. Fruit an 
oblong drupe, one- or two-celled, generally ripening only one seed.—A few species of this genus are found in Aus- 
tralia, and one in Norfolk Island; the latter is also a Gymnelea, and the only species of this section found out of 
New Zealand. Numerous species are scattered over the temperate and tropical regions of the globe. Many have 
hard excellent wood, and some very fragrant flowers, such as that which is used by the Chinese to give fragrance to 
Tea. The European Olive may no doubt be cultivated with success in Australia and in the warmer, drier parts of New 
Zealand. (Name, Olea in Latin; of the same root with aaa in Greek; olew in Celtic; and olivier in French ; 
Oelbaum, German; oil, English.) 
1. Olea Cunninghamii, Hook. fil. ; arbor excelsa, ramulis novellis pubescentibus, foliis 3-5-uncialibus 
coriaceis ovato- v. oblongo- v. elongato-lanceolatis linearibusve obtusis, venis (sicco) paucis divaricatis non- 
reticulatis pagina superiore impressis, racemis pubescenti-tomentosis brevibus 10-15-floris, floribus breve 
pedicellatis, fl. d calyce 4-lobo, lobis 2 dentiformibus, filamentis elongatis, $ corolla urceolari irregulariter 4- 
fida, staminibus brevibus, fructu ovoideo baccato. Olea apetala, A. Cunn. Prodr. non Vahl nec Endl. 
Prodr. Flor. Ins. Norf., ete. 
Has. Northern and eastern parts of the Northern Island, Banks and Solander, Cunningham, Colenso. 
Nat. name, “ Maire raunui,” Col. 
A tree about 50 feet high, unbranched below. Leaves very coriaceous, variable in shape; on young trees nar- 
row, linear, 9 inches long ; on fully-grown, linear-ovate, oblong-lanceolate or elliptical-oblong, blunt, all petiolate, 
3-5 inches long, margin recurved when dry. Racemes opposite, rising from the branches below the leaves, 1-14 
inch long, straight, with a stout hairy rachis and short peduncles. Flowers distichous ; pedicels as lone as the 
calyx, hairy, with a large ovate concave bract at the base; males the smallest, with a four-lobed corolla, two small 
lobes, and two much larger opposite the stamens ; female flowers with an urceolate unequally four-lobed calyx, 14 
line long, two anthers bearing no pollen, and an oblong ovarium, with two exserted stigmata. Berry obliquely 
ovoid, 3 inch long, red, seated on the persistent calyx, containing a single crustaceous or bony one-celled one-seeded 
nut; a slit in the wall of the nut shows the position of the second cell, which ripens no seed.—Mr. Cunningham 
considered this plant to be the same as the O. apetala (“iron wood”) of Norfolk Island, from which it differs in 
the narrower leaves, hairy racemes, and more shortly pedicelled flowers. — Vahl, though he gives New Zealand as a 
habitat for O. apetala, describes the Norfolk Island plant. 
