Alectryon.] XX. SAPINDACEAE. 95 



Hook, f., PI. N.Z. i. .38; Handbk. 45; Beuth., Fl. Austr. i. 439; T. Kirk, 

 Forest Fl. N.Z. t. 17. D. viscosa, var. oblongata, Banks and Sol. MSS. 

 D. spatulata, Sm. in Rees. Cycl. xii. n. 3 ; A. Rich., Fl. N.Z. 308 ; A. Cunn., 

 Precurs. n. 599. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : North Cape to Banks Peninsula and Westland. Also in most 

 tropical and warm temperate regions. Ascends to 1,800ft. Akeake. Oct., Nov. 



2. ALECTRYON, Gaertn. 



Flowers small, regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Calyx 4— 5-lobed ; 

 lobes almost equal, villous on the inner surface, imbricate. Petals 0. Disk 

 small, 8-lobed. Stamens 5—8, inserted in the lobes of the disk ; filaments at 

 length exceeding the anthers. Ovary obliquely obcordate, 1-celled, villous, com- 

 pressed ; stigma simple or 2— 3-lobed ; ovule solitary. Fruit coriaceous or 

 almost woody, tumid, gibbous, with a compressed ridge on one side. Seed sub- 

 globose, arillate ; cotyledons spirally coiled ; endosperm 0. A handsome tree, 

 with pinnate exstipulate leaves and axillary panicles of hermaphrodite or poly- 

 gamous flowers. 



EiYM. Prom the Greek, in reference to the scarlet arillus, which resembles a cock's comb. 



A genus usually restricted to the following species, but, according to some botanists, including 

 about a dozen plants from Australia, New Caledonia, Timor, &o. 



1. A. excelsa, Gaertn., Fruct. i. 216, t. 46. An erect tree, 40ft.-60ft. 

 high, with black bark. Branches, leaves below, inflorescence, and fruit clothed 

 with rusty pubescence. Leaves unequally pinnate, 4in.— 18in. long; leaflets 

 2in.— 4in., shortly petioled, oblique at base, ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 entire or obscurely crenate or with distant teeth. Panicles 4in.— lOin. long ; 

 flowers pedicellate. Fruit ^in. long, with a flattened crest on one side termi- 

 nating in a spur. Seed jet-black, shining, imbedded in a fleshy scarlet arillus. 

 — DC, Prod. i. 617; A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 598; Hook., Ic. PI. t. 570; Hook. 

 f., Fl N.Z. i. 38 ; Handbk. 45 ; T. Kirk, Forest Fl. N.Z. i. 92, 93. Euony- 

 moides excelsa, Banks and Sol. MSS. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : North Cape to Banks Peninsula and Ross. Ascends to 

 2,000ft. Titoki. Titongi. Tokitoki. Nov., Deo. 



A beautiful tree, which affords a tough and elastic timber, termed by the settlers " the New 

 Zealand ash." The leaves of the young plant are deeply lobed and toothed. 



Var. grandls. Leaves equally pinnate ; leaflets broadly ovate, oblong, 4in.-5in. long, Sin. 

 broad, with 2 or 3 coarse teeth. THREE KINGS Islands : Clieeseman I 



* MELIANTHUS, Linn. 

 Flowers hermaphrodite, unequal. Calyx persistent, compressed, deeply 5-lobed, 

 the lowest inflated and smaller than the others. Petals 5, perigynous, the lowest 

 very small or 0. Disk unilateral, lining the bottom of the calyx. Stamens 4, 

 unequal, hypogynous. Ovary oblong, 4-lobed, 4-celled ; style central ; ovules 2-4 

 in each cell. Oa;psule papyraceous, deeply 4-lobed, 4-celled ; cells 1-seeded. Seeds 

 subglobose, with copious endosperm ; arillus ; testa crustaceous ; embryo small. 

 Shrubs or undershrubs, with pinnate stipulate leaves and terminal axillary or race- 

 mose inflorescence. 



