KiKK. — On the New Zealand Olives. 375 



Aet. LVI. — On the New Zealand Olives. By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 

 [Beceived 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 dioecious 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 0. viontana in foliage and general appearance, the resemblance 

 extending even to the venation ; the flowers and fruit, of course, differing 

 widely in structure. 



In " Flora Novse-Zealandiffi" and the "Handbook" three species of Olea 

 are described — 0. cunninghamii, 0. lanceolata, and 0. montana : a fourth 

 species, 0. apetala, was added bj' the writer in 1867. f Together they form 

 the section Gymnolmna, 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 : dioecious 

 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 

 a shrub 10 or 12 feet high and branched from the base. 



The branches are spreading, and often tortuous ; in old siDecimens the 

 bark is very thick, deeply furrowed, and corky. 



* Title read at Annual Meeting, 12th February, 1881. 

 t See Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. iii., p. 165. 



