128 THE TASMANIAN FLOEA. 



Ordee XLYIII. OLE ace JE. 



Flowers regular. Calyx free. The sepals united nearly or quite to the apex, 

 usually 4 or 5. Corolla various. Petals usually united into a long or short tube, 

 occasionally quite free, usually 4 or 5 in number, but sometimes only 2 petals- 

 or none. Stamens 2, adhering to the base of the corolla, on opposite sides of the- 

 ovary. Anthers 2-celled. Ovary 2-celled, with normally 2 ovules in each oelL 

 Fruit a drupe or capsule, often maturing but 1 seed. 



A small widely-distributed order. 



NOTEL^A. 



Calyx small, 4-toothed. Corolla small, of 4 distinct or nearly distinct petals. 

 Fruit a drupe, maturing but one of the ovules. 



The genus is confined to Australia and Tasmania. 



N. LisuSTRiNA, Vent. A tall shrub or small tree, usually freely branched and 

 difEuse. Leaves narrowly or broadly lanceolate, shortly stalked, '1-3 inches long, 

 margin entire, opposite. Flowers numerous, in slender axillary racemes 

 towards the ends of the branches. Calyx-lobes about | line long. Peta,ls about 

 1 line long, spreading. Style very short. Stigma entire or 2-lobed. Fruit nearly 

 globular, about \ inch diameter, very succulent, from white, through pink, to 

 dark-purple. 



Common in many parts. It occurs also in Victoria and New South Wales. 

 Fl. early spring. 



Obder ^hlX.—APOCYNACE^. 



Flowers regular. Sepals free or nearly so, and not adnate to wall of ovary. 

 Corolla regular, gamopetalous. Lobes 5, spreading. Stamens 5, alternate with 

 corolla-lobes, inserted to the coroUa-tulje. Anthers occasionally cohering or 

 connate in a tube round the style. Ovary of 2 free or intimately-united carpels. 

 Ovules few or many. Placentas axile or parietal. Fruit a drupe, berry, capsule 

 or follicles. Leaves, in Tasmania genera, opposite. 



The order is large, and found principally in tropical and sub-tropical localities. 

 It has a world-wide distribution, except in cold regions. Only two genera,, 

 each with a single species, occur in Tasmania. 



Leaves oblong. Fruit fleshy ... ... ... ... 1. Alyxia. * 



Leaves lanceolate. Fruit long, dry ... ... ... 2. Lyonsia. 



1. ALTXIA. 



Corolla-tube cylindrical. Lobes spreading. Anthers enclosed. Ovary of 2 

 distinct carpels, but styles combined. Ovules few in each carpel. Fruit a drupe 

 or berry, often developed as 2 or more distinct articles, each 1-seeded. 



The genus is small, and extends to the Pacific and Southern Asia. 



A. BUXIFOLIA, R. Br. A low, rigid, widely-spreading, much-branched shrub. 

 Leaves occasionally 3 in a whorl, normally opposite, from oblong to almost 

 orbicular, blunt, with often a small point, and narrowed below into a short stalk, 

 thick, margins recurved, |-1 inch long. Flowers few together, in terminal clusters, 

 each shortly stalked. Calyx about 1 line long. Corolla-tube slender, often 4-5 

 lines long. Lobes broad, spreading, about 2 lines long. Berries ovoid, orange 

 to red, aboub ^ inch diameter, mostly single, but often 2, rarely 3 or 4. developed 

 from one pistil and arranged as distinct articles. Seeds very convolute. 



George's Bay, many places on the North Coast ; Bass Straits ; also on the coast 

 throughout extra-tropical Australia. Fl. Sept.-Oct. 



