Stilbocarpa.] xxxv. AEiLlAGEAE. 215 



climbers or herbs, with alternate simpl{5 or eonipouiid shining leaves, stipulate 

 or exstipulate, the petiole often dilated at the base, the expansion forming an 

 interpetiolar stipule. Flowers often unisexual or polya'amous, in simple or 

 highly compound umbels or racemes or panicles. Bracts small, often 0. 



Distributed through the temperate and especially the tropical regions of both hemispheres. 

 Genera, about 40. Species, about 375. All the New Zealand species are endemic. The foliage 

 of many species exhibits a large amount of polymorphism. 



* Herbs. Petals imbricate m bud. 



1. Stilbocabpa. Petals obovate, obtuse. Styles 3-4. Drupe spherical, 3-4-celled. 



2. Abalia. Petals linear-acute. Styles 2. Drupe spherical, 2-celled. 



** Shrubs or trees. Petals valvate in bud. Stamens as many as the petals. 



3. Panax. Leaves simple or digitate. Flowers jointed to the pedicels. Styles distinct, 



recurved at the apex. 



4. Meryta. Leaves entire, large. Flowers paniculate. 



5. Schefpleba. Umbels small, in a large racemose panicle. 



6. PsEUDOPANAX. Leaves simple or digitate. Flowers 5- or 4-merous. Styles united into a 



cone ; stigma discoid, small. 



*** Shrub. Petals valvate in bud. 

 * Hedeba. Climbing. Leaves entire, palmatilobed or ovate. 



1. STILBOCARPA, A. Gray. 



Calyx-tube 3— 4-grooved ; limb entire. Petals 5, imbricate. Male flower : 

 stamens 5 ; styles ; lobes of disk flat. Female : stamens usually ; lobes of 

 disk 3 or 4, surrounding a cavity sunk in the apex of the ovary ; styles 3 or 4, 

 recurved ; ovary broadly turbinate, 3— 4-celled. Fruit globose, axis hollow, 

 3— 4-furrowed, 3— 4-celled, each cell containing a single nut. A herb, with large 

 orbicular-reniform leaves and huge masses of unisexual or polygamous flowers. 



The only species ; endemic. 



1. S. polaris, A. Gray, Bot. U.S. Expl. Exped. i. 714. Stems short, 

 given off from a thick fleshy annulate rhizome, strong-smelling when bruised. 

 Leaves 6in.— 12in. broad or more, almost fleshy, bristly on both surfaces, 

 orbicular-reniform, many-lobed, strongly toothed ; petiole 12in.— 18in. long, 

 almost terete ; sheath semiamplexicaul, produced upwards into a leafy lobed 

 or laciniate ciliate ligule. Umbels compound, terminal and axillary, 4in.— 9in. 

 in diameter. Flowers iin. in diameter, yellow, waxy, shining, with purple 

 centres. Pedicels articulated. Petals of the female 5, oblong-obovate ; of 

 the male smaller, dull. Lower involucral bracts foliaceous, pedicellate, lobed. 

 Fruit as large as a peppercorn, shining. — Dene, and Planch., ^'oy. an Pole Sud, 

 t. 2, Dicot. Aralia polaris, Hook, f., Fl. Antarc. i. 21 ; Hook., Ic. PI. t. 477. 



AUCKLAND, CAMPBELL, ANTIPODES, and MAGQUARIE Islands. Puuid. Dec, Jan. 



2. ARALIA, Tourn. 

 Calyx-teeth minute or obsolete. Petals 5, more or less imbricate in bud. 

 Stamens 5. Styles 2-.j, free or slightly connate at base. Fruit a 2— 5-celled 

 drupe ; cells 1-seeded. Herbs, shrub?, or trees, with unisexual or polygamous. 



