LXXIV. BALA N OPHORETE. 
255 
Order, LXXIV. BALANOPEOEE^l. 
Stout, succulent, leafless root-parasites. Stem reduced to a tuberous, often 
lobed Potato-like rhizome, giving off simple, thick, erect scapes, often bearing 
concave scales, and at the top ovoid, spikes or spadixes of minute, unisexual, 
very imperfect flowers. — Male fl. : Perianth 0 or 3-cleft, lobes valvate. Stamens 
1-3 ; filaments free or united, short or long ; anthers 2-many-celled. Ovary 0 . 
Female fl. : minute. Calyx adherent, with a lobed limb or 0. Ovary ovoid or 
globose, 1-celled, styles 1 or 2 ; stigmas simple; ovule 1, pendulous. Fruit 
a very minute nut or utricle enclosing an adherent seed, usually consisting 
of a homogeneous mass of granular albumen ; embryo when found excessively 
minute, lodged in the albumen. 
A small Order of chiefly tropical root-parasites ; one is a native of the Mediterranean , 
Cynomorium, the “Fungus Meliteusis” of the Crusaders. The only New Zealand genus 
is a most remarkable one, found nowhere else. ■ 
1. DACTYLANTHUS, Hook. f. 
A fleshy root-parasite ; rhizome subterranean, globular or misshapen, 
tubercled, giving off numerous club-shaped peduncles or stems, covered with 
concave, obtuse, imbricating scales, the upper larger and surrounding the 
spadixes. — Flowers minute, dioecious, crowded on erect, columnar spadixes. 
Male : a solitary, almost sessile, 2-celled anther. Female : Perianth adnate to 
the globose ovary, limb of 2 or 3 superior subulate lobes ; style filiform, stigma 
simple. 
1. D. Taylori, Hook. f. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxii. 427. t. 75. Rhi- 
zome as big as the fist or smaller; stems 2-4 in. high; scales ovate, lower 
smaller, shorter, \ in. long ; upper more oblong, larger, 1 in. long. Spadixes 
cylindric, numerous, crowded at the top of the stem, hidden by the upper-' 
most scales, 1-1^ in. long; male covered by crowded anthers; — -fem. by the 
erect, slender ovaries. 
Northern Island : Wanga-nui, alt. 4000 ft., on roots of Fagus and Pittosporum , Rev. 
R. Taylor. Native name “ Pua reinga.” 
Order LX XV. CONIFEEJE. 
Shrubs or trees, usually resinous. Leaves stiff, very various, often reduced 
to scales. — Flowers monoecious or dioecious, very minute and imperfect ; 
males reduced to crowded naked stamens ; anthers 2- or more celled. Female 
of one or more naked ovules, without ovary style or stigma, inserted on coria- 
ceous scales, which are solitary or spiked, or collected into catkins or cones. 
Ripe seeds nut- or drupe-like ; testa membranous, crustaceous or osseous ; 
albumen copious; embryo usually terete ; cotyledons 2 or more. 
A very extensive Order, found in all parts of the world, to which the Yew, Juniper, Pine, 
Cypress, etc. etc., belong. 
Leaves oblong, 1-3 in. Cones large, of many imbricating scales . , 1. Dammara. 
Leaves small. Cone of few, erect, woody scales 2. Lihocedrus. 
