O12 CHLORANTHACEAE. [ Ascarina. 
Leaves 1-2 in. long including the petiole, obovate-oblong to elliptic-oblong 
or linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, cuneate at the base, dark-green and 
glossy above, often glaucous beneath, margins coarsely and often obtusely 
serrate ; petioles in. long. Spikes laxly branched in a racemiform manner, 
the females more slender and more sparingly divided than the males ; 
branches opposite, pendulous. Flowers minute, alternate, each one in the 
axil of a broadly ovate acute bract with a smaller bracteole on each side. 
Anther sessile, oblong, #,in. long. Female flowers sometimes 2 or 3 
together. Ovary broadly ovoid ; stigma very broad, truncate. Ripe fruit 
not seen. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 253; T. Kirk Forest Fl. (1889) 
t. 129: Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 598; Ill. N.Z. Fl. 1 (1914) t. 166. 
A. rubricaulis Solms in DC. Prodr. xvi, 1 (1869) 478 (on part). 
North Isuanp: Auckland—Hokianga, Buchanan ; Bay of Islands, 7. Kirk ; 
Whangarei, H. Carse, T. F. C.; Little Barrier Island, T. F. C. ; Coromandel, Petrie / 
Waitakarei Ranges, 7. F. C.; near Waihi, Petrie / Taranaki — Mount Egmont, 
Buchanan. Wellington—Wairarapa Valley, Colenso! SoutH Istanp: Marlborough— 
Queen Charlotte Sound, Banks and Solander ; Kenepuru, J. Rutland! Nelscn—Cape 
Foulwind, W. Townson! Westland—-Abundant along the whole length of the district, 
Helms, Cockayne, and others. Otago—Plentiful in the sounds of the south-west coast, 
Hector, Buchanan, T. Kirk! Svewart Istanp: C. Trail (fide T. Kirk). Sea-level to 
2500 ft. Septem ber—November. 
Although this extends along almost the whole length of the Dominion, it is only 
on the west coast of the South Island, from Westport to Preservation Inlet, that it is 
at all plentiful. Elsewhere it is extremely local. 
Family XXVI. FAGACEAE. 
Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, penninerved, stipulate. 
Flowers monoecious. Male flowers in erect or pendulous spikes, or 
collected into globular or capitate clusters. Perianth simple, 4—6-lobed. 
Stamens 5-20, inserted at the base of the perianth ; filaments slender ; 
anthers 2-celled. Female flowers less numerous than the males, solitary 
or few together, often surrounded by scales or bracts which are frequently 
united into an entire or lobed involucre. Perianth adnate to the ovary 
or wanting; limb minute. Ovary 3-celled, rarely 2-6-celled ; styles as 
many as the cells; ovules geminate in each cell. Fruit a nut, enclosed 
or seated within the persistent and hardened involucre. Seed rarely 
more than one in each nut; embryo with large and fleshy cotyledons ; 
radicle superior. 
An important family, including 5 genera and about 375 species, for the most part 
confined to the Northern Hemisphere, and most abundant in the Temperate Zone, 
extending southwards to the mountains of the Malay Archipelago and Central America 
and Colombia, a very few species of one genus alone found in the South Temperate 
Zone. The order includes the oak, chestnut, and beech, and produces some of the 
most durable and valuable woods known. The single New Zealand genus is confined 
to the temperate portion of the Southern Hemisphere. - ‘ 
Son * a Oe ON, eens rt 
NOTHOFAGUS Blume. ‘9b: B'-P'*S: 
Trees or rarely shrubs. Leaves evergreen in all the New Zealand 
species ; stipules caducous. Flowers monoecious. Males: 1 to 3 or 4 
towards the top of a short erect or curved peduncle; bracts numerous, 
caducous. Perianth campanulate, 4-6-lobed; lobes imbricate. Stamens 
