414 Ag) NYCTAGINACEAE. [ Pasonia. 
at | 
PISONIA Linn. 
Trees or shrubs, usually unarmed, rarely spinous. Leaves opposite or 
scattered. Flowers unisexual or hermaphrodite, small, 2—3-bracteolate at 
the base, usually arranged in lax or dense cymose panicles. Perianth of 
the male flowers funnel-shaped or almost campanulate, of the females tubular, 
sometimes swollen at the base; limb 5-toothed; teeth short, induplicate- 
valvate, erect or patent. Stamens 6-10; filaments unequal, connate at the 
base into a tube or ring; anthers oblong or didymous, exserted or included. 
Ovary elongated, narrowed into a slender included or exserted style ; 
stigma obliquely capitate or dilated, often fimbriate. Fruiting-perianth 
elongated or oblong, 5-ribbed or cylindrical, smooth or glandular-muricate, 
usually viscid, firmly enclosing the membranous utricle. Seed solitary, 
oblong, longitudinally grooved ; embryo straight, the cotyledons convolute, 
enclosing the scanty albumen. 
A large genus in tropical and subtropical America, with a few species in southern 
Asia, Australia, Pclynesia, and the Mascarene Islands. The New Zealand species occurs 
in Norfolk Island and Australia, and may possibly have a wider range. , | 
Jaw S Py Moe flirtlz, |e Lo sy 
1. P. Brunoniana Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfl. (1833) 43.—A glabrous shrab 
or small tree, usually 12-20ft. high, but sometimes attaining 35 ft. 
with a trunk 2 ft. in diam.; wood soft, brittle. Leaves usually opposite, 
but often irregularly alternate or sometimes approximate in threes, petiolate, 
4-15 in. long, oblong to ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, obtuse or subacute, 
quite entire, membranous and flaccid when young, but becoming firm in 
age. Cymes much branched, terminal, many-flowered. Flowers usually 
hermaphrodite, but sometimes the stamens are abortive. Perianth 4 in. 
long, greenish, glabrous or puberulous, funnel-shaped with a campanulate 
mouth, Stamens 6-8; anthers equalling the perianth or slightly exserted. 
Fruit 1-l4in. long, linear, narrowed above, 5-ribbed; ribs minutely 
papillose, extremely viscid —Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 229; Benth. 
Fl. Austral. v (1870) 280; 7. Kirk Forest Fl. (1889) t. 140; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 574. BP. Sinclairii Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 209, t. 50. 
P. Mooreiana F. Muell. Fragm. 1 (1858) 20. 
Kermapec Isnanps: Not uncommon, 7. F. C., W. R. B. Oliver! Norn ISLAND: 
Three Kings Islands, 7. F. CO. ; Whangape Harbour, Berggren, McLennan! between 
Whangarei and Ngunguru, Colenso! Hen and Chickens Islands, 7’. Kirk ! fy eA 
Cape Bream Tail, R. Hastie ; Great Barrier Island, Arid Island, 7’. Kirk! Little Barrier 
Island, Cuvier Island, 7. F. C.; Cabbage Bay, Adams! East Cape, Bishop Williams / 
Sea-level to 500 ft. Parapara. Flowers most of the year. 
Also found in Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, and Queens- 
land. The fruits are so excessively viscid that small birds, such as the white-eye 
(Zosterops) and fantail (Rhipidura), are often caught and glued down by the feathers, 
and fail to free themselves. 
,-4 =a ' 
Pept Aacar 
Family XXXVII. AIZOACEAE. 
Annual or perennial herbs, rarely undershrubs, of very various habit. 
Leaves opposite or alternate or whorled, simple, often fleshy, stipules 
wanting or scarious. Flowers regular, usually hermaphrodite, solitary or 
fascicled or cymose. Calyx free or adnate to the ovary, 4-5 celled or 
-partite, imbricate. Petals either narrow and numerous, or 4-5 and 
small, or altogether wanting. Stamens perigynous or rarely hypogynous, 
few or many; filaments free or connate at the base. Ovary superior or 
