128 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Peperomia Urvilleana (D'Urville's Peperomia). 



A juicy creeping herb, 4in.-10in. high. Leaves alternate, ^in.-lin. long, 

 broadly oblong, obtuse. Catkin with a footstalk, pale-green, erect, lin.-l^in. 

 long. North Island : wet rocks, mossy stumps, etc. Kermadec Island, Norfolk 

 Island. Fl. March-April. 



Genus Piper. 



A large tropical genus of climbing shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate. 

 Flowers in erect, solitary, or twin catkins, axillary, green. Stamens 2. Ovary 

 sessile ; stigmas 2-5. 



Macro pi per excelsum (The Lofty Pepper). 



A small tree, sometimes 20ft. in height, shining, aromatic. Leaves heart- 

 shaped, 3in.-5in. long, pointed at the tip, 5-7 nerved at the base. Leaf-stalks 

 winged at the base. Catkins slender, lin.-4in. long. Fruit a yellow berry. 

 Both islands as far south as Banks Peninsula. Kermadec Islands. Fl. Oct.- 

 Nov. Maori name Kawakawa. 



A decoction of the leaves is used by the natives to allay 

 toothache, to cure rheumatic pains, and also to reduce 

 swellings or inflammation of any kind. The wet leaves and 

 twigs slowly burned produce a bitter smoke, said to be fatal to 

 insect life. 



Fagaceae. 



THE CHIEF FEATURES OF THE FAMILY. 



The flowers of the order are small and inconspicuous, and as they are adapted 

 to wind pollination, have no special devices for attracting insects. Stamens and 

 pistil are found on the same plant, but in different flowers. The male flowers 

 are generally borne in catkins. 



Distribution.- -No older family of dicotyledonous trees than this is known. 

 It includes the birch, alder, hazel, hornbeam, beech, oak, and chestnut. Closely 

 allied to these are the willow, poplar, and walnut. The earliest oaks come from 

 the Cretaceous, and were coeval with the first undoubted dicotyledons. The 

 method by which the pollen tube reaches the embryo sac in some plants of the 

 order is of a highly archaic type, known elsewhere only among the primitive 

 Casuariniae (she-oaks, etc.) of Australia. If antiquity, then, were a claim to 

 representation in the New Zealand forests, this family should be conspicuous 

 by the number of its species. It is, however, represented here only by some 



