KimcaCEAE. 



291 



Pernettya. 

 (Family Ericaceae). 



Small shrubs: evergreen. Twigs 

 very slender, terete, more or less 

 puberulent and sparsely stiff-hairy, 

 at first green: pith minute, round- 

 ish, somewhat spongy. Buds 

 small, solitary, sessile, ovoid or 

 round, flattened, with 2 outer 

 scales. Leaf-scars alternate, min- 

 ute, obtusely 3-sided or crescent- 

 shaped, low: bundle-trace 1: sti- 

 pule-scars lacking. Leaves com- 

 monly twisted into one plane, 

 small, simple, minutely somewhat 

 toothed. Fruit axillary, commonly 

 present in winter in the form of 

 small berries. 



The genus Pernettya is one of 

 peculiar distribution: most of its 

 species are of the North American 

 highlands, but it is represented 

 also in New Zealand. Reasons for 

 believing that there was once a direct land connection be- 

 tween South America and New Zealand and Australia are 

 brought together in an interesting volume by Scharff, on Dis- 

 tribution and Origin of Life in America. 



1. Leaves ovate, pungently pointed. 2. 



Leaves lance-oblong. P. angustifolia. 



2. Fruit red. (1). P. mucronata. 

 Fruit white. P. mucronata alba. 

 Fruit nearly black. P. mucronata nigra. 



