96 XXI. ANACABDIACEAE. {Corynocarpus . 



'■'' M. major, L., Sp. PI. 639. An erect glabrous shrub, 3ft.-4ft. high. Leaves 

 pinnate, glaucous ; stipules large, connate for their entire length ; leaflets sessile, 

 deeply and acutely serrate. Flowers in erect terminal racemes. Pedicels short. 

 Sepals pubescent. Disk excessively nectariferous. Ovules ascending. 



NORTH Island : a garden escape, thoroughly established in many localities between Ahipara, 

 Auckland, and Wellington. Aug. to Oct. South Africa. 



Oedee XXI.— anaoardiaceae. 



Flowers usually regular, hermaphrodite, unisexual or polygamous. Calyx 

 inferior, 3— 5-lobed or -divided. Petals perigynous, 3—7 or 0. Disk annular 

 or broad. Stamens as many as the petals or twice as many, inserted on the 

 disk or at its base ; filaments free ; anthers versatile. Ovary free, 1-celled, 

 with 1—3 styles, or 2-5-celled, or rarely of 2-5 free carpels ; ovules solitary, 

 pendulous from a basal funicle or adnate to the wall of the cavity, rarely 

 erect ; micropyle inferior. Fruit superior, 1— 5-eelled, usually drupaceous and 

 indehiscent. Seed pendulous, horizontal or erect ; endosperm ; cotyledons 

 thick, fleshy ; radicle short. Trees or shrubs, with alternate simple or com- 

 pound exstipulate leaves. Bark often exuding a balsamic gum. 



Geneea, about 45. Species, 450. Common in tropical regions ; less frequent in warm 

 temperate regions. 



1. CORYNOCARPUS, Forst. 

 Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx deeply 5-partite, lobes imbricate. Petals 

 5, perignyous, imbricate, erose. Disk 5-lobed, fleshy. Stamens 5, inserted 

 between the lobes of the disk, alternating with 5 petaloid staminodia. Ovary 

 superior, sessile, 1-celled ; style erect ; stigma capitate ; ovule pendulous from 

 the upper wall of the cell. Drupe large, obovoid, obtuse, pulpy when ripe ; 

 endocarp coriaceous, fibrous, forming a network outside the membranous testa 

 of the pendulous seed ; cotyledons oblong, piano - convex, fleshy ; radicle 

 minute, superior. A tree, with alternate exstipulate leaves and terminal 

 panicles of small green flowers. 



1. C. laevigata, Forst., Char. Gen. 31, t. 16. A glabrous evergreen 



tree, 20ft.-50ft. high; trunk lft.-2ift. in diameter. Leaves 3in.-7in. long, 



oblong or broadly lanceolate, narrowed into short stout petioles, glossy. Flowers 



in erect rigid panicles ; pedicels stout. Petals as long as the calyx-lobes, 



concave. Disk fleshy. Ovary small. Drupe lin.-l^in. long, orange-coloured ; 



sarcocarp fleshy ; endocarp reticulate, coriaceous ; testa membranous, veined. 



— A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 638 ; Hook., Bot. Mag. t. 4379 ; Hook, f ., Fl. N.Z. i. 



48 ; Handbk. 46 ; T. Kirk, Forest Fl. N.Z. t. 88. Merretia lucida, Banks and 



Sol. MSS. 



NOETH and SOUTH Islands : Kermadeo Islands to Ross and Banks Peninsula. CHAT- 

 HAM Islands. Chiefly in littoral situations. Karaka. New Zealand laurel. Aug. to Nov., Deo. 



The sarcocarp is edible, but the seed is highly poisonous until deprived of its injurious pro- 

 perties by boiling or maceration, when it becomes nutritious. The wood although white and perish- 

 able is used for canoes. 



