Intsaea. | LAURACEAE. 461 
1. L. ealiearis Benth. and Hook. f. ex T. Kirk Forest Fl. (1889) t. 10.— 
A perfectly glabrous closely branched leafy tree 30-40 ft. high, with a 
trunk 14-21 ft. diam.; bark dark greyish-brown. Leaves alternate, petio-. 
late, 2-5 in. long, ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse or narrowed into an obtuse 
point, quite entire, firm but hardly coriaceous, often glaucous beneath ; 
petioles 4-lin. long. Flowers often very abundantly produced, in 
4-5-flowered involucrate umbels arranged in short axillary racemes. 
Involucral leaves usually 4. Pedicels short, silky. Perianth-segments 5-8, 
oblong or ovate, obtuse. Stamens about 12; filaments slender, all with 
2 stipitate glands near the base. Female flowers rather smaller and less 
numerous than the males. Staminodia flattened, each 2-glandular near 
the base. Ovary ovoid; stigma dilated, irregularly 3-lobed. Berry 
oblong-ovoid, 2 in. long, reddish, seated in a flat cup-shaped disc composed 
of the enlarged perianth-tube.—Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 608; Il. 
N.Z. Fl. ii (1914) t. 169. ‘Vetranthera calicaris Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i 
(1853) 216; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 238. T. Tangao R. Cunn. ew A. Cunn. 
Precur. (1838) n. 353. Laurus calicaris Soland. ex A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) 
n. 353; Raoul Choix (1846) 42. 
Norra Istanp: Not uncommon in forests from the North Cape southwards to 
Rotorua and the East Cape. Sea-level to 2000 ft. | Mangeao; Tangeao. Sep- 
tem ber—October. 
Wood strong, tough, and elastic, suitable for all classes of coopers’ or wheel- 
wrights’ work, for ships’ blocks, &c. 
3. CASSYTHA Linn. 7793. 
Leafless twining parasites, attaching themselves to living shrubs or 
trees by means of small suckers ; stems terete, wiry or filiform. Leaves 
replaced by minute scales. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, in spikes or 
heads or racemes, each flower 3-bracteolate. Perianth-tube turbinate or 
ovoid ; segments of the limb 6, the 3 outer much smaller. Perfect stamens 
usually 9 in 3 series; the two outer series either all perfect or rarely the 
second series reduced to staminodia; anthers introrse; filaments eglan- 
dular; the third series all perfect with extrorse anthers, the filaments 
2-glandular at the base; an inner fourth series of 3 staminodia present. 
Ovary almost free from the perianth at the time of flowering ; stigma small. 
Fruit altogether enclosed in the enlarged and succulent perianth-tube, 
crowned by the persistent limb. Seed with a membranous testa. Embryo 
with thick fleshy cotyledons, which are distinct in the young state, but 
confluent when mature. 
A very remarkable genus of parasitic plants with the habit of Cuscuta. Species 
about 15, 1 of which is very widely distributed, 1 or 2 are found in South Africa, and 
1 in Borneo; the remainder are ali Australian, 1 of them being the same as the New 
Zealand species. 
1. C. paniculata #. Br. Prody. (1810) 404.—Stems pale yellow-green, 
much branched, several feet in length, covering small shrubs with dense 
interwoven masses; branches ;51n. diam., glabrous or minutely silky 
at the very tips; scales minute, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, membranous. 
Spikes numerous, often branched, $-2in. long. Flowers minute, distant, 
sessile, about jin. diam. Perianth glabrous; the 3 outer segments 
very small; the inner obtuse. Stamens 9, all perfect. Ovary glabrous. 
Fruit globose, about the size of a pea, enclosed in the enlarged and 
