210 VITEX LITTORALIS. 
Aged trees are difficult of conversion ; younger trees split more readily, but it is 3 
usually necessary to employ blasting-powder or dynamite: the large a1 € 
of equal value with the trunk, as they can be converted mto house-block Sat 
fence-posts, &c. The purir is of great value for ornamental planting, a anc 
should be extensively planted on account of the value of its timber: it n yb e- 
propagated by seeds or cuttings, and is of the easiest cultivation. = 
Its Howers are usually produced in September and October. 
DisTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS, 
The genus Vitex comprises about sixty species, which are chiefly distributed 
through the tropics, a few only being found in the temperate regions of Asia, 
Europe, and Australia. four species are found in Australia, and one in New 
Zealand. 
DistRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES. 
Vitex ltttoralis is endemic in New Zealand, and is restricted to the nolael 
part of the North Island. It is very common from the North Cape to t he 
Lower Waikato and Te Aroha. Farther south it becomes rare and local, be ing 
most plentiful in the vicinity of the coast. On the east coast it attains its: 
southern limit at Poverty Bay, and on the west coast at Stony River, in the 
Taranaki District. : 
It is plentiful in sheltered places near the sea, and attains large dimensions 
in alluvial lands at sea-level, but exhibits equal luxuriance in hilly districts, and 
ascends to 2,80oft. It has, however, been cut out in many districts where i 
was formerly plentiful, and will soon become rare and difficult to obtain 
quantity. 
; DESCRIPTION. 
Vitex littoralis, A. Cunn. 
Hook., ‘‘ lcones Plantarum,” tt. 419, 420. 
A fine tree, 4oft. to 6oft. high, with a massive trunk from 2ft. to sft 
diameter, and epreading branches. Branches and leaves glabrous, except when 
very young. Leaves opposite, three- or five-foliolate ; petioles, gin. to 4in, long; 
leaflets, 2in. to 51in. long, tin. to 23in. wide, oblong or obovate, acute or § b= 
acuminate, keeled, shortly petioled. Flowers in asad dichotomous panicles, 
spreading, three- to ten-flowered ; pedicels slender, Calyx basin-shaped, ¢ tae 
Yi j 
ch 
scurely five-toothed. Corolla rin. long, irregularly two-lipped; upper lip notel net 
at the base, rounded at the tip or with a minute notch; lower lip deflexed, deepl 
trifid, lobes spreading. Stamens, four; filaments long, curved, hairy at the 
ovary four-celled, stigma bifid. Fruit, a red ovoid or almost globose dru ape; 
nut clavate, bony, foniaed at the broad top, four-celled; seeds, one to four. 
EXPLANATION OF PLatE CV. . 
Vitex littorahs, A. Cunn. Flowering specimen, natural size. 1. Flower, 
magnified. 2. Fruit, natural size. 3. Nut. 4. Transverse section of fruit a 
