DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF NEW PLANTS. 
159 
the learned Professor; because the authentic specimen for that 
plant is in our Herbarium, having been sent from Honduras by 
Mr. Armstrong, and the two are identical. It is a half-shrubby 
plant, of strict habit, two and a half to three feet high; with 
opposite leaves, a span or more long, oblong, much acuminated, 
below decurrent into a short foot-stalk; the branches elongate 
into a raceme, a foot to a foot and a half long, four-sided; 
pedicles on pseudo-whorls; calyx destitute of bractese, purplish 
red ; corolla rich scarlet, tubular approaching to funnel-shaped ; 
limb of four equal spreading segments, which are ovate, obtuse, 
the upper one bifid.— Bot. Mag. 4378. 
Myrsinace^e. —Pentandria Monogynia. 
Corynocarpus laevigata (Forster). A native of New Zealand, 
drawn from a specimen sent by the late Mrs. Sherbouine, fioni 
her collection at Hurst House, Lancashire, and the only one we 
have seen; so that in the absence of fruit, we can only speak, as 
Mr. Cunningham and others have done, doubtfully, as to its 
place in the natural system. The position of the seed alone 
would militate against its being one of the Myrsinacea, and there 
is something in the structure of its flowers bearing an affinity very 
different from that family. Although the blossoms have little to 
recommend them (being small and green), the plant itself “forms 
a tree,” says Mr. Cunningham, “ Karaka of the natives, upon 
which the eye of the traveller rests with pleasure, by reason of 
its rich, dark green, glossy leaves, and highly ornamental growth ; 
and it furnishes a plum-like fruit, of which the drupaceous coat, 
when fully ripe of a sweetish taste, is eaten by the natives.” The 
nut or kernel also, upon being deprived (by steaming and mace¬ 
ration in salt water) of the poisonous property it is said to 
possess, is held in considerable esteem by the New Zealanders, 
who collect and use it for food in seasons of dearth. If eaten 
without this necessary preparation, the person becomes seized 
with severe spasmodic pains and convulsions, from which, in 
some cases, the sufferer does not recover, but has been observed to 
die in great agony in a few hours. The timber is not used for 
any other purpose than as fire-wood, being of short fibre, and 
very soft. It is a greenhouse plant, and flowers in May. Bot . 
Mag. 4379. 
