30 X. malvace.®. [Plagianthus. 
inner face. Fruit of 1 in dehiscent or irregularly bursting carpel, or of many 
whorled round an axis. Seed pendulous. 
A genus confined to Australia and New Zealand. 
Leaves small, linear. Peduncles 1 -flowered. Carpels 1 or 2 . . . 1 . P. divaricatus. 
Leaves ovate, serrate. Panicles many-flowered. Carpel solitary . . 2. P. betuliniis. 
Leaves ovate-cordate, serrate. Peduncles 1-flowered. Carpels many . 3. P. Lyalin. 
1. P. divaricatus, Forst. ; — FI. N.Z.i. 29. A rigid, glabrous, much- 
branched shrub, with slender spreading - tough branches, small fascicled leaves, 
and minute white flowers, succeeded by small globose capsules. Leaves -J— f 
in. long, narrow-linear or subcuneate, obtuse, quite entire, 1-nerved. Flowers 
in axillary fascicles or 1-flowered peduncles, shorter than the leaves, minutely 
bracteolate near the base. Calyx hemispherical, glabrous. Petals concave, 
oblong, small. Stamina! tube with 6-10 large sessile anthers. Capsules 
size of a peppercorn, globose, rarely didvmous, oblique, downy, bursting ir- 
regularly .—Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3271. 
Abundant in salt marshes throughout the islands as far south as Akaroa, Panics and So- 
lander, etc. 
2. P. betulinus, A. Cunn. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 29. A lofty tree, attaining 
40-70 ft., when young a straggling bush with variable leaves. Leaves of 
young plants J in. long, ovate-rounded, variously crenate and lobed, in 
full-grown 1-2 in. long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded or 
cuneate at the base, coarsely crenate-serrate, or obtusely doubly serrate, mem- 
branous, covered on both surfaces with small stellate hairs and reticulate 
venation ; petiole slender. Panicles terminal, much branched, very many 
flowered, stellate-tomentose. Flowers small, i in. broad, white, on slender 
ebracteolate pedicels. Calyx campanulate. Petals linear-oblong, narrower 
in the male flowers. Staminal tube long, slender, exsertcd in the male, bear- 
ing many shortly-pedicelled anthers. Carpel 1. Capsule small, ovoid, 
acuminate, splitting down one side, 1-seeded. — P. betulinus and urticinus, 
A. Cunn. ; Fhilippodendron regium, Poit. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. ii. 8. t. 3. 
Abundant in forests throughout the islands, Banks and Solander, etc., as far south as 
Otago. “ Kibbon-tree of Otago, wood worthless,” Buchanan. 
3. P. Lyallii, JPook. f. — Hoheria Lyallii, FI. N. Z. i. 81. 1. 11. A small 
branching tree, 20-30 ft. high, with the young branches, inflorescence, and 
leaves below covered with white stellate down. Leaves 2-4 in. long, ovate- 
cordate, acuminate, deeply doubly crenate, glabrous above ; petioles 1|- 
in. Flowers large, f in. broad, white, axillary ; peduncles 1-flowered, soli- 
tary or fascicled, 'ebracteolate, about as long as the petioles. Calyx broadly 
campanulate. Petals obliquely obovate-cuneate, obscurely notched on one side 
towards the apex. Staminal tube short, with many long Aliform filaments. 
Ovary about 10-celled; style slender, divided into as many filiform branches, 
stigmatose on the inner surface towards the apex. Fruit a depressed sphere, 
breaking up into 10 compressed reniform membranous carpels. Seed much 
compressed. / 
In mountain districts throughout the Middle Island, from Nelson to Milford Sound ; 
western districts of Otago, fringing the Fagus forest, Hector and Buchanan. Mr. Haast 
informs me that Ibis forms a deciduous tree at and above 3000 ft., hut is evergreen below 
