THE TASMANIAN FLORA. 175 



at least in Tasmanian specimens. Pistillate flowers muct smaller, with nearly 

 eTBct lobes, persistent round tlie fruit. Fruit with a dry pericarp. 



New Town Rivulet ; East Coast, near Launceston, &c., but not common ; also 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and West Australia. Fl. Nov.-Jan. 



16. P. CUEVIFLOEA, R. Br. A small, erect, wiry shrub, slightly silky in most 

 parts. Leaves mostly alternate, shortly stalked, narrow-oblong, j-| inch long, 

 margins often slightly recurved. Flowers few, in terminal heads, mostly on very 

 short side-branches, in many copiously flowering specimens some of the heads 

 truly axillary ; all flowers apparently bearing perfect pistils, but the stamens 

 sometimes abortive. Perianth usually yellowish, silky, the tube very slender in 

 the outer flowers, often curved, but not constantly so, about 2-3 lines long; 

 lobes thickened, slightly spreading, about 1 line long ; rather more than half the 

 tube persistent round the fruit. Fruit with a dry pericarp. P. gracilis, Hook. 



Near Launceston, St. Patrick River, George's Bay, near New Norfolk, and 

 many localities on the banks of streams ; also New South Wales, Victoria, South 

 Australia, and Queensland. Fl. spring and summer. 



17. P. STRiCTA, Meissn. A slender erect shrub, 2-3 feet high, glabrous, except 

 the inflorescence. Leaves opposite, shortly stalked, narrow-lanceolate, j-| inch 

 long. Flowers in rather large, terminal, drooping heads, subtended by 4 large 

 closely-appressed bracts that are silky on their upper surfaces. Perianth silky, 

 about I inch long, tube slender, the greater part persistent round the fruit. 

 Stamens with very short filaments, the anthers nearly sessile, connective thick, 

 the cells remaining parallel, and not turned back to back after dehiscing, as in 

 P. linifolia and allied forms. Fruit with a dry pericarp. 



Swanport ; also in Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales. Fl. 

 summer. 



2. DRAPETES. 



Perianth tubular, with scales at the thi'oat opposite the lobes. Stamens 4, 

 alternate with the lobes, inserted at the throat. 



A genus of very few species, but with a wide distribution in the Southern 

 Hemisphere. 



D. TASMANICA, Hooh. A small, prostrate, spr-eading, much-branched, herb- 

 like under-shrub. Leaves alternate, linear, concave. If line long. Flowers few 

 together, in small terminal heads, receptacle densely hairy. Perianth hairy, 

 about 2 lines long, with spreading lobes. Fruit an ovate drupe, about 1^ line 

 long. 



Common on the summit of mountains in the west. La Perouse, Ben Lomond, 

 &c. It occurs also in Victoria, and is doubtfully distinct fi'om. D. dieffenbachii, 

 of New Zealand. Fl. Dec- Jan. 



Ordee LXIX. EUPHORBIACE^. 



Flowers dioecious. Perianth deficient or calyx-like or petaloid, or developing 

 a distinct calyx and corolla. Stamens from solitary to very numerous. Ovary 

 superior, usually of 3 more or less combined carpels, rarely fewer or more. Styles 

 as many as carpels. Ovules 1 or 2 in each carpel, pendulous. Fruit capsular, 

 and dividing into carpels, or succulent with free pyrenes. 



The order is very large, but natural, though containing many and varied forms. 

 It attains its greatest development, both in numbers and individual size, in the 

 tropics. The Tasmanian genera are nearly all confined to Australian distribution. 



Herbs. 



Erect or ascending, very succulent. Ovaiy on 



a long weak peduncle 1. Ewphorhia. 



Procumbent. Ovary normal ... ... ... 2. Porantkera. 



