Nesodaphne .] 
LXIV. LATJRINEiE. 
239 
tomentose. Leaves 3-6 in. long, coriaceous, obovate-oblong, obtuse, glabrous 
above, puberulous and glaucous below. Panicles branched, 1-2 in. diam. 
Mowers shortly pedicelled, L in. diam. Berry 1| in. long, ovoid, purple. 
— Lau,rus Tarairi, A. Cunn. 
Northern parts of the Northern Island, Banks and Solander , etc. Wood white, splits 
freely, A. Cunningham. Berry much eaten by birds, and, when boiled, by man. Embryo 
said to be poisonous when raw. 
2. N. Tawa, Hook. f. Fl. N. Z. i. 217. A lofty forest tree, 60-70 ft. 
high. Branches slender, youngest silky. Leaves variable, 3-4 in. long, 
lanceolate or narrow elliptic-oblong, acute, finely reticulated on both surfaces, 
glaucous below. Panicles slender, branches elongate. Blowers small, quite 
glabrous. Berries small. — Laurus Tawa , A. Cunn. ; L. Victorianu , Colenso. 
Northern parts of the Northern Island, Banks and Solander, etc. Wood poor, very 
destructible, used for spears. Berries eaten. Leaves very aromatic and pungent. 
3. CASSYTHA, Linn. 
Leafless, twining, herbaceous or half shrubby plants, attached by suckers 
to shrubs, etc., on which they are parasitical, as with Cuscuta. Stems and 
branches slender, terete, like whipcords. Flowers spiked capitate or pani- 
cled, hermaphrodite. — Perianth 6-partite ; tube very short ; segments erect, 
in 2 series. Stamens 12, in 2 series, the 3 interior opposite the inner seg- 
ments of the perianth with imperfect anthers, the rest fertile, the filaments 
of some 2-glandular at the base. Anthers 2-celled ; of outer row opening 
inwards, of inner row outwards. Fruit enclosed in the baccate perianth. 
A large genus, abounding in Australia, with a few Indian, Pacific, and American species. 
1. C. paniculata, Br. ,—Fl. N. Z. i. 218. Branches glabrous, j\~xo 
in. diam., smooth ; tips silky ; scales at the axils of the branches small, ovate, 
acuminate, membranous. Spikes 1-2 in. long, simple or branched. Flowers 
shortly pedicelled, distant, cylindrical, in. long, sometimes pubescent, 
with several orbicular, minute bracts at the base. Ovary glabrous. 
Northern part of the Northern Island, Bieffenhach, Colenso. A native of New South 
Wales. 
Order LXV. MONIMIACE^). 
Trees or shrubs, often aromatic. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate, exsti- 
pulate. Flowers racemose or cymose, hermaphrodite or unisexual. — Perianth 
rotate or subcampanulate, 4-1 5-lobed. Male fl. : Stamens indefinite, all or 
most fertile; filaments short; anthers 2-celled, opening by slits or by ascend- 
ing valves. Female fl. : Stamens 0 or reduced to scales. Ovaries numerous, 
1 -celled; style terminal or lateral, stigma simple; ovule 1, erect or pendu- 
lous. Fruit of numerous drupes, or of aclienes with persistent plumose styles, 
often included in the urceolate tube of the perianth. Seed pendulous ; em- 
bryo in the axis of oily and fleshy albumen ; cotyledons very short, divari- 
cating. 
A small Order, native of the tropics of South America, South India, and its islands, and 
extratropical America, Tasmania, and Chili. 
