OLEA APETALA, Vahl. 
THE BROAD-LEAVED MAIRE. 
OrpErR—JASMINE/£. 
(Plates XXVII. and XXVIII.) 
AtrHoucn Olea apetala has long been known to botanists as a native of Norfolk 
Island, it is only twenty years since it was added to the New Zealand flora, when 
it was discovered on the Great and Little Barrier Islands, and subsequently on 
the Taranga Islands, near Whangarei Heads. 
The Native name, ‘ maire,’’ is applied not only to the Olives, of which 
there are four species, but also to Fusanus Cunminghanui—the sandal-wood—and 
other trees which afford dense heavy timber of even texture. This indiscriminate 
application of the Native name has led to much confusion amongst bushmen and 
settlers. 
The New Zealand Olives constitute a well-marked section of the genus, 
characterized by the male and female flowers being destitute of petals and pro- 
duced on separate plants. Another striking feature is the variation in the shape 
of the leaves exhibited at different stages of growth: in the present species the 
leaves of the young plant, especially if growing in the shade, are fully twice the 
breadth of those of the mature state; but in the other species the leaves of 
young plants are much narrower and longer than those of fruit-bearing specimens. 
Olea apfetala is a much-branched shrub or small tree, but rarely attaining 
the height of 2oft., and when growing in rocky, exposed situations reduced to 
a mere bush. In old specimens the branches are spreading and often tortuous ; 
the bark of the trunk deeply furrowed, rugose, and corky; in young specimens 
it is brown or brownish-grey, and thinly studded with small wart-like excrescences. 
The twigs are more or less flattened and twisted between the nodes. 
In the young state the leaves are broadly ovate in shape, from 3in. to 6in. 
long, 24in. to 31n. broad, narrowed into short leaf-stalks; the blade is of thick 
texture and of a deep glossy green tint, quite entire. In the mature state the 
leaves are much narrower in proportion to their length,—14in. to 3in. long, and 
rather more than iin. broad,—sharply narrowed into the leaf-stalk below, and 
into a point at the apex, with the midrib distinct on both surfaces ; brownish, 
and rough to the touch beneath. 
The female flowers are produced in racemes which spring from the axils of 
the leaves. Each raceme bears from twelve to eighteen flowers, and is perfectly 
smooth in all its parts—a peculiarity which is exhibited by no other species found 
in the colony. The calyx is deeply cut into four unequal lobes; and the ovary is 
two-celled, each cell containing two ovules. Gradually one cell becomes nearly 
obliterated, and only a single ovule becomes a perfect seed, The male flowers 
have not been observed in the colony. 
The fruit is about one-third of an inch in length, one-seeded, red. 
The flowers are produced in October and November; in all probability the 
fruit ripens during the following June or July. I have only seen one or two fruits, 
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