42 IV. VIOLAEIEAE. [Tonidium. 



loog, narrowed into a concave claw, saccate at the base ; lateral petals very short. 

 Anthers with 2 minute subulate processes in the cells. 



NOKTH Island : naturalised in grassy places. Lake Takapuna, Auckland, Miss BoUeston ! 



2. MELICYTUS, Porst. 

 Mowers regular^ dioecious. Sepals 5, coherent at the base. Petals 5, 

 spreading. Anthers 5, iree, sessile ; connective produced into a short mem- 

 branous expansion with a minute dorsal scale. Stigma discoid^ almost sessile 

 or style 3-5-fid. Berry with 3-6 placentas. Seeds few or several, angled or 

 minutely tuberculate. Shrubs or trees with alternate petioled minutely-stipu- 

 late leaves. 



A small genus, of which all the species are endemic in New Zealand except one, which extends 

 to Norfolk Island and the Tonga Islands. 



Btym. From the Greek, signifying honey and a cavity, in reference to the scales behind the 

 anthers, termed " nectaries " by Porster. 



Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, serrate . . . . . . . . 1. M. ramiflorus. 



Leaves obovate, large, obscarely serrate . . . . . . . . . . 2. M. macrophyllus. 



Leaves linear-lanceolate, sharply serrate . . . . . . . . . . 3, M. lanceolatus. 



Leaves small, orbicular, ovate, sinuate . . . . . . . . . . 4. IT. micranthus. 



1. M. ramiflorus, Forst., Char. Gen. t. 62. A large shrub or tree, 

 25ft.— 30ft. high; trunk l^ft.— 2ft. in diameter; bark white. Leaves 3in.— Sin. 

 long, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, obtuse or shortly acuminate, serrate or 

 obscurely serrate. Flowers in axillary fascicles or on the naked branches. 

 Pedicels very slender, about iin. long, with minute bracts. Calyx-teeth 

 minute, obtuse. Anthers obtuse. Stigma 5— 6-lobed, sessile. Berry violet- 

 coloured, ^-in. in diameter. Seeds few. — ^Prod. n. 371 ; Lamk. 111. t. 812, 

 f. 1 ; DC, Prod. i. 257 ; A. Rich., Fl. N.Z. 313 ; A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 623 ; 

 Raoul, Enum. 48; Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 18, and Handbk. 17; Gray, Bot. U.S. 

 Expl. Exped. 97; T. Kirk, Forest Fl. N.Z. t. 3. Tachytes umbellifera, Banks 

 and Sol. MSS. 



NOETH and SOUTH Islands; STEWART Island; THEEE KINGS Islands: common. 

 Ascends to 3,000ft. Mahoe ; hinahina. Dec, Jan. Also in Norfolk Island and the Tonga Islands. 

 The twigs are very brittle. 



2. M. macrophyllus, A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 624. A sparingly-branched 

 shrub, 6ft.-15ft. high. Leaves obovate or oblong, 3in.-5in. long, acute, coria- 

 ceous, obscurely sinuate, serrate. Male : Flowers in 4-8-flowered fascicles ; 

 pedicels decurved, with 1 or 2 bracts just beneath the flower; calyx-lobes broadly 

 rounded ; petals strap-shaped, spreading, more than twice as long as the calvx ; 

 anthers apiculate. Female : Petals scarcely exceeding the calyx ; stvle short, 

 stout, discoid, 2-3-lobed. Berry iiu. in diameter. Style persistent. Seeds 

 about 4, angled, smooth. — Raoul, Enura. 48 ; Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 19 and 

 Handbk. 17 ; Gray, Bot. U.S. Expl. Exped. 97. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : not uncommon in lowland situations in the Auckland District. 

 Only known elsewhere from Waikari Creek, near Dunedin. G. M. Thomson ! Ascends to 1,500ft.' 

 Attains its greatest luxuriance in the Kaipara. Sept., Oct. 



Larger in all its parts and more robust than M. ramiflorus; pedicels longer and stouter. 



