Chapter XVI. 



Okder XVI.— OLACINE^. The Olax Familv, 



Charactek of the Order. — Shrubs or trees. Leaves, 

 simple, alteriute, rarely opposite, exstipulate. Flower.-', 

 regular, axillary or terminal, hermaphrodite or uni-sexnal 

 Calyx, small, -i or 5-toothed, lobed or parted. Petals, I or .1 

 free, or coalescing into a tube, valvate. Stamens, 4 or ."1 

 hypogynous (or at the base of a disk). Ovary, free, 1 or ini 

 perfectly 3-5-celled ; style, long or short ; stigma, often lobed 



ovules, 1-3, culiaterally pendulous from below tl-.e top of the 

 cell, or from the top of a central, erect, free placenta. Fruit, 

 usually a 1-celled, 1-secded, dry or (le.shy drupe. Seed, 

 pendulous ; testa, very thin ; albumen, copious, fleshy ; 

 embryo, minute, terete. — Handbook uf Ihe Neu' Zealand Flo7-a, 

 p. 41. 



Description of the Order, — 



LARGE tropical order, containini^' many genera of very various characters 



not included in the above description, and often extremely diificult of deter- 



r^, miiiatiou, on account of their minute flowers, and almost microscopic ovaries 



f and ovules. The only New Zealand genus is also a native of Norfolk Island 



^ and the West Coast of Australia. The typical genus of this order is Ohia' 



from which it is named. It consists of ahout two dozen species of small 



mostly natives of Asia and Australia. 



1. PENNANTIA (Forsf.) The Pennantia. 



G-eneric Character. — Trees. Leaves, alternate, entire 

 or toothed. Cymes, many-llowered. Flowers, polygamous. 

 Calyx, minute, 5-toothed. Petals, 5, valvate. Stamens, 5, 

 hypogynous ; filaments, filiform, free, flattened at the base ; 

 anthers, versatile. Ovary, oblong, obscurely trigonous, 

 1-eelled ; stigma, almost sessile, discoid, 3-lobed; ovule, 1, 



pendulous below the top of the cell. Drupe, small, fleshy; 

 stone, crustaceous, obtusely 3-gonous, grooved on one face, 

 and perforated on that face below the apex ; a flattened cord 

 jiasses up the groove, enters the cell by the foramen, and bears 

 tile pendulous seed at its tip. — Handbook oj the yew Zealand 

 Flora, p. 41. 



Description, etc. — This genus is a small one, consisting of trees, natives of New 

 Zealand, Norfolk Island, and the West Coast of Australia. In Norfolk Island the genus 

 is represented by Pennantia Endlicheri, and in New Zealand by P. corymhimi. 



