44 
XVIII. RHAMNEA3. 
[Disc aria. 
grooved or articulate at the nodes. Flowers axillary, pedicelled, nodding, small, 
green. — Calyx membranous, interior or adnate at the base with the ovary, 
with obeonic or campanulate limb and 4 or 5 recurved lobes. Petals 0 or 
4 or 5. Stamens 4 or 5. Disk adnate to the base of the calyx, annular, en- 
tire or lobed. Ovary free or sunk in the base of the calyx, subglobose, 3- 
lobed ; style slender, stigma 3-lobed. Drupe dry, coriaceous, of 3 cocci, cap- 
sular when ripe, the cocci separating and splitting down their faces. 
A considerable genus in South America, of which one species is a native of Australia, and 
another of New Zealand. 
1. D. Toumatou, Raoul , Ckoix, 29. t. 29 ; — D. australis. Hook., var. 
apetala, FI. N. Z. i. 47. A thorny bush in dry places, becoming a small 
tree in damper localities, with spreading branches and branchlets reduced to 
spines 1-2 in. long. Leaves small, ■£— | in. long, fascicled in the axils of the 
spines, absentin old plants, linear or obovate-oblong, obtuse or retuse, smooth 
or pubescent, quite entire or serrate.- Flower ^ in. diam., apetalous, white ; 
pedicels and calyx minutely downy. Calyx-tube short, obscure ; lobes 4 
or 5, broadly ovate. Disk broad, with a narrow upturned edge. Capsule size 
of a peppercorn . — Notophcena Toumatou, Miers, Contrib. 272. 
East coast and interior of the southern part of the Northern, and throughout the Middle 
Island. I have retained this as a distinct species from the Australian plant, relying on the 
absence of petals and the minute pubescence on the pedicels and flowers. The spiues were 
used in tatooing {Raoul). “ Wild Irishman ” of settlers. 
Order XIX. SAPINDACE^J. 
Trees, rarely shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, simple or com- 
pound, exstipulate. Flowers regular or irregular, uni- or bi-sexual.- — Sepals 
3-5, imbricate or valvate. Petals 0 or 3-5, generally small, often with a 
scale on their inner face. Disk 0, or complete or incomplete. Stamens 5-8, 
hypogynous or inserted within the disk. Ovary entire or lobed, usually 2- 
3-celled ; style simple, stigma 2-3-lobed ; ovides 1-2 in each cell, fixed to 
its axis. Fruit very various. Seeds usually exalbuminous, with large, solid, 
or spirally-twisted cotyledons and incurved radicle. 
A very large and complicated Order of tropical and temperate plants, of which some 
genera present characters not noticed in the above description. 
Leaves simple (iu the New Zealand species). Disk 0 1. Dodonasa. 
Leaves pinnate. Disk 8-lobed 2. Alectryon. 
1. DODON.ZEA, Linn. 
Shrubs or trees, often covered with a viscid exudation. Leaves simple (or 
pinnate), exstipulate. Flowers unisexual or polygamous, apetalous, regular. 
— Sepals 3-5, imbricate or valvate. Male fl. : Disk 0. Stamens 5-8; fila- 
ments very short ; anthers linear-oblong, 4-angled. Female fl. : Ovary ses- 
sile, 3-6-angled ; cells 2-ovuled. Capsule membranous or coriaceous, septi- 
cidally 3-6-valved ; valves broadly winged at the back. Cotyledons spiral. 
A very large Australian genus, of which a very few species (including the New Zealand 
one) are scattered widely over the warmer regions of the globe. 
