Kirx.—On the New Zealand Olives. 875 
Art. LVI.—On the New Zealand Olives. By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 
[Received by the Wellington Philosophical Society, 13th March, 1881] .* 
Few New Zealand plants have proved greater sources of perplexity to local 
botanists than the olives. With a certain amount of similarity in the foliage, 
they possess diceecious apetalous flowers which are very inconspicuous, and 
as they are for the most part produced on lofty trees, it is not easy to pro- 
cure good specimens of each form in its various stages. A limited amount 
of dimorphism on the foliage has increased the difficulty, and it has been 
erroneously supposed that the characters afforded by the fruit were of little 
value, 
Another source of perplexity has arisen from the application of the 
native name “ maire” to all the species alike, as well as to the sandal- 
Wood (Santalum cunninghamii), some forms of which closely resemble Olea 
lanceolata and O. montana in foliage and general appearance, the resemblance 
extending even to the venation ; the flowers and fruit, of course, differing 
widely in structure. 
In « Flora Nove-Zealandie” and the “Handbook” three species of Olea 
are described—O. cunninghamii, O. lanceolata, and O. montana: a fourth 
Species, O. apetala, was added by the writer in 1867.+ Together they form 
the section Gymnolena, restricted to New Zealand and Norfolk Island, and 
characterized chiefly by the absence of the corolla. I purpose offering a few 
remarks on the habit and characteristics of each. All the species agree in 
having opposite or subopposite petioled, coriaceous, glossy leaves : diccious 
apetalous flowers, produced in more or less distichous racemes : each flower 
being jointed to the pedicel, each pedicel to the rhachis, and each rhachis to 
the branch. The pedicels are minutely bracteolate at the base, and the 
calyx is unequally 4-cleft. The style is invariably bifid, and staminodia 
are frequently produced in the female flowers, especially in those of 0. 
cunninghamii. The fruit is a red or crimson coloured drupe ; occasionally 
two perfect seeds are developed in the same fruit, 
Olea apetala, Vahl. 
In favourable situations this forms a small tree 20 feet in height, but 
in exposed situations it is little more than a bush ; most frequently it forms 
& shrub 10 or 12 feet high and branched from the base. 
The branches are spreading, and often tortuous; in old specimens the 
bark is very thick, deeply furrowed, and corky. 
Rayer ee eae oy NI 
* Title read at Annual Meeting, 12th February, 1881. 
+ See Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. iii., p. 165. 
