Elatostema. | URTICACEAE. 383 
1. E. rugosum 4. Cunn. Precur. (1838) n. 335.—Stems stout, suc- 
culent, decumbent or prostrate and rooting at the base, erect above, 
sparingly branched, 1-5 ft. high. Leaves alternate, 4-10 in. long, obovate- 
lanceolate or lanceolate, acuminate, curved, unequal-sided, auricled and 
semi-amplexicaul at the sessile base, sharply serrate, membranous, rugose, 
pubescent with minute rigid hairs on both surfaces; stipules lanceolate, 
membranous, deciduous. Receptacles monoecious, solitary in the axils of 
the leaves, sessile or shortly pedunculate, depressed-hemispherical, often 
lobed, #4 in. diam. Males: Bracts broad, glabrous or puberulous. Flowers 
very numerous, pedicelled, hidden among the broad membranous bracteoles. 
Perianth 4-partite ; segments abruptly acuminate, hyaline. Females with 
the bracts narrower and more pubescent. Bracteoles linear-spathulate, 
ciliate. Flowers almost sessile; perianth very minute, of 4 hyaline 
segments. Stigma penicillate. Achene minute, ovoid, smooth.—-Raoul 
Choix (1846) 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 227; Handb. N.Z. Fi. 
(1864) 253; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl, (1906) 636. 
NortH Istanp: Damp shaded ravines from the North Cape southwards to the 
middle of Wellington Province, but local to the south of the Waikato River. Sea-level 
to 2000 ft. Parataniwha. Flowers spring and summer. 
The heads or receptacles are usually described as unisexual, but it is not uncommon 
to find both sexes mixed in the same head. 
3. BOEHMERIA Jacq. \-74 6 
Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate or opposite, toothed, 3-nerved ; 
stipules usually free, deciduous. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, in small 
globose glomerules; glomerules axillary, either solitary or spiked or 
racemed or panicled. Male flowers: Perianth 3-5-lobed or -partite ; 
segments valvate. Stamens 3-5, inflexed in bud. Rudimentary ovary 
clavate or globose. Female flowers: Perianth tubular, compressed or 
ventricose, mouth often contracted, 2-4-toothed. Ovary included, sessile 
or stipitate; stigma filiform, persistent; ovule solitary, erect. Achene 
closely invested by the persistent perianth, crustaceous. Seed albuminous; 
cotyledons ovate or elliptic. 
Species about 60, widely spread through the tropics of both hemispheres. 
1. B. dealbata Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv (1892) 410.—A small 
tree 8-25it. high; branches terete, pubescent with minute appressed 
hairs. Leaves alternate, 3-6 in. long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 
rounded at the base, rarely slightly cordate, obtusely serrate, prominently 
3-nerved and with the secondary veins also strongly marked, green and 
glabrous and rugulose above, white and hoary beneath; petioles stout, 
?-2in. long, grooved on the upper surface. Flowers minute, in small 
axillary sessile glomerules, which are either unisexual or androgynous. 
Male flowers : Perianth deeply 4-partite ; segments oblong-ovate, acuminate, 
clothed with erect hairs. Stamens exserted. Females: Perianth tubular, 
dilated below, contracted at the 2-toothed mouth. Stigma exserted, long, 
filiform, hirsute. Fruiting-perianth much compressed, broadly winged. 
Achene very minute, ovoid, quite smooth.—Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 637; 
Ith. NZ. EE ui, (O14) Ge Y8t. : 
KERMADEC IsLANDS: Sunday Island, not uncommon at low elevations, 7’, I’. C., 
W. R. B. Olliver Flowers most of the year. 
Nearly intermediate in characters between the Norfolk Island B. australis and the 
Lord Howe Island B. calophleba, but apparently distinct from both. 
