Ascarina. | CHLORANTHACEAE. 371 
Family XXV. CHLORANTHACEAE. 
Shrubs or trees, rarely herbs, generally aromatic. Leaves opposite, 
usually toothed, petioles often connate at the base; stipules small, subu- 
late. Flowers small, unisexual, in terminal or axillary spikes or panicles. 
Perianth wanting (rarely present in the female flowers). Stamens either 
1 or 3 connate; filaments short and thick; anthers 2-celled, or when there 
are 3 the lateral 1-celled. Ovary 1-celled; stigma either sessile or style 
very short; ovule solitary, orthotropous, pendulous from the top of the 
cell. Fruit a small globose or ovoid drupe. Seed pendulous ; testa mem- 
branous ; albumen copious, fleshy ; embryo minute, remote from the hilum, 
radicle inferior. 
A small and unimportant family, comprising 3 genera and 35 species, mostly 
tropical or subtropical. 
1. ASCARINA Forst. 4776. p.17. 59. 
Aromatic shrubs or small trees ; branchlets jointed at the nodes. Leaves 
opposite, serrate, penniveined ; petioles connate at the base into a short 
sheath ; stipules small, subulate. Flowers minute, dioecious or monoecious, 
arranged in simple or branched spikes. Perianth wanting in both cexes. 
Male flowers: Stamen solitary; anther sessile, linear-oblong, cylindric, 
2-celled ; cells parallel, dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers: Ovary 
naked, ovoid or subglobose ; stigma sessile, truncate. Drupe small, puta- 
men fragile. 
A small genus of six species, all very closely allied, found in New Zealand and 
the Pacific islands from New Caledonia eastwards to Tahiti. 
Leaves 2-4 in., ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate. Anthers 4 in. 
long ‘. >. a uid oe i .. 1. A. lanceolata. 
Leaves 1-2 in., elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong, obtuse or acute. 
Anthers j4,in. long .. * bf a: xe .. 2, A. lucida. 
1. A. lanceolata Hook. f. in Journ. Linn. Soc. (1856) 127.—A perfectly 
glabrous bushy shrub or small tree 6-15 ft. high, rarely more; branches 
dark purplish-red, striate when dry. Leaves 2-4in. long including the 
petiole, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, narrowed into the 
petiole, dark-green and glossy above, paler beneath; margins coarsely ser- 
rate, the teeth often curved and acute; petioles $-?in. long. Spikes closely 
branched in a racemiform manner, 1—2in. long; branches opposite, spring- 
ing from the axils of a pair of connate bracts. Male flowers alone seen, 
rather closely placed, each one in the axil of a broadly ovate acute bract, 
and with a smaller bracteole on each side. Anther sessile, $ in. long, linear- 
oblong, cylindric; connective thick, produced at the tip into a minute 
usually recurved apiculus.—Solms in DC. Prodr. xvi, 1 (1869) 478 ; Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z, Fl, (1906) 597. 
KeRMADEC IsLtanps: Not uncommon in forest on Sunday Island, McGillivray, 
T. F.C., W. R. B. Oliver ! June—Septem ber. 
This was reduced to A. lucida in the Handbook, but appears to be sufficiently 
distinct in the larger and narrower more acuminate leaves, and larger anthers. The 
same species, or a very close ally, is found in Fiji, Samoa, and Rarotonga. 
2. A. Jueida Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 228.—A perfectly glabrous 
closely branched shrub or small tree 10-25 ft. high, with a trunk 6-12 in. 
diam. ; branches slender, terete, striate when dry, dark purplish - red. 
