538 RUTACEAE. | Phebalium. 
annular, entire or lobed or crenate. Ovary of 4-5 free or connate carpels ; 
styles as many, free at the base, united above ; ovules usually 2 in each 
carpel. Fruit very various, sometimes of 4-5 2-valved cocci, or a berry 
or drupe, rarely a capsule with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds generally 
solitary in each cell; albumen fleshy or wanting; embryo large, straight 
or curved, radicle superior. 
As defined by Hooker and Bentham in the “ Genera Plantarum,” this is a large 
and heteromorphous family, comprising between 80 and 90 genera and nearly 700 
species. Most of the species are either tropical or inhabit South Africa or Australia. 
They are comparatively rare in the North Temperate Zone. The chief characteristic of 
the family is the presence of an essential oil, which is usually abundant in the leaves and 
young growing parts, often giving them an aromatic odour and bitter or pungent taste. 
The orange, lemon, citron, lime, &c., are the chief economic species. The two New 
Zealand genera are also found in Australia, and Melicope extends into the Pacific 
islands as well. 
Leaves simple, petiole terete. Flowers 5-merous _ .. 1. PHEBALIUM. 
Leaves compound, or if simple with the petioles winged. 
Flowers 4-merous 2. MELICOPE. 
1. PHEBALIUM Vent. jg0h., 
Shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, entire or slightly toothed, pellucid- 
dotted. Flowers usually in axillary or terminal corymbs, rarely solitary. 
Calyx small, 5-lobed or -partite. Petals 5, imbricate or valvate. Stamens 
8-10, longer or shorter than the petals ; filaments filiform, glabrous. Ovary 
2-5-partite almost to the base; style simple; stigma small, capitellate ; 
ovules 2 in each cell, superposed. Cocci 2-5, truncate or rostrate ; endocarp 
cartilaginous and separating elastically. Seeds usually solitary. 
A genus of 35 species, all of which are confined to Australia with the exception of 
the present one, which is endemic in New Zealand. 
1. P. nudum. Hook. Ic. Plant. (1848) t. 568.—A_ graceful much- 
branched perfectly glabrous shrub 4-12 ft. high; branchlets slender, with 
reddish bark. Leaves alternate, 1-1} in. long, linear-oblong or narrow 
oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, obtuse, obscurely crenate, narrowed into 
short petioles or almost sessile, pellucid-dotted. Flowers 4in. diam., white, 
fragrant, in terminal many-flowered corymbs; pedicels short, scurtfy. 
Calyx very small, with 5 broad lobes. Petals 5, lanceolate or linear, obtuse ; 
margins involute. Stamens much longer than the petals. Cocci 1-4, but 
usually only 1 or 2 ripen, obtusely rhomboid, wrinkled, splitting into 2 
valves.—Raoul Choix (1846) 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 44; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 39; T. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 85; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 93; Ill. N.Z. Fl. un (1914) t. 26. 
Norra Istanp: Hilly forests from Kaitaia southwards to the Thames River, 
ascending to 2500 ft. Muairehau. October-December. 
Highly aromatic in all its parts. The flowers have been used for the extraction of 
a perfume. 
2. MELICOPE Forst. ¥94b, 
Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, simple or 3-foliolate, 
tarely pinnate, pellucid-dotted. Flowers usually small, often unisexual, in 
axillary or terminal few- or many-flowered cymes or panicles. Sepals 4. 
Petals 4, valvate or imbricate, with inflexed tips. Stamens 8, inserted at 
the base of the disc ; filaments subulate. Ovary 4-lobed almost to the base, 
4-celled ; style single or 4 coalescing into 1; stigma capitate, 4-lobed; 
