~ 
Corynocar pus. | CORYNOCARPACEAE. 549 
The pulpy part of the fruit is edible; but the seed is highly poisonous unless 
steamed, or steeped in salt water. See Mr. Colenso’s valuable paper ** On the Vegetable 
Food of the New-Zealanders *’ (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii (1881) 25), also notes by Mr. Skey 
and Mr. Colenso (l.c. iv (1872) 316). For a more recent account of the toxic qualities of 
the plant, reference should be made to a memoir by Professor Hasterfield and Mr. B. C. 
Aston in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiv (1902) pp. 495 and 566. Further particulars respecting 
the species will be found in Mr. Hemsley’s memoir, quoted above, and my “ Hlustrations 
of the N.Z. Flora” (vol. i, t. 29). 
Family LXI. STACKHOUSIACEAE. 
Perennial herbs, usually of small size. Leaves alternate, narrow, 
quite entire, often somewhat fleshy. Stipules wanting or very minute. 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite, in terminal spikes or rarely. solitary. 
Calyx 4-5-lobed or -partite, imbricate. Petals 5, perigynous, inserted 
on the throat of the calyx, linear or spathulate, claws long, free at the 
base but more or less connate above, limb reflexed. Dise thin, clothing 
the base of the calyx-tube. Stamens 5, inserted on the edge of the disc. 
Ovary free, globose, 2—5-lobed, cells the same number; style single at the 
base, 2—5-lobed above ; ovules | in each cell, erect, anatropous. Fruit 
of 2-5 globose angular or winged indehiscent l-seeded cocci. Seed erect, 
with a membranous testa; albumen fleshy; embryo straight, radicle 
inferior. 
A small family of 2 genera and 18 species. With the exception of the New 
Zealand plant and another found in the Philippine Islands, the whole of the species 
are confined to Australia. 
STACKHOUSIA Smith. 179%. 
Characters of the family as above. 
1. §. minima Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.i (1853) 47.—A minute slender glabrous 
herb, with numerous creeping often matted underground stems, and short 
slender erect leaty branches 4-2 in. high. Leaves crowded or distant, rather 
fleshy, §-$1n. long, linear or linear-oblong or linear-obovate, flat, acute. 
Flowers small, yellow, solitary and terminal, almost sessile or on very short 
peduncles, always exceeding the leaves. Calyx-lobes short, acute. Petals 
usually connate at the middle to form a tubular corolla but often altogether 
free, linear, acute or acuminate, tips recurved. Stamens 3 long and 2 
much shorter; anthers glabrous. Ovary 3-lobed ; style very short, 3-cleft. 
Cocci obovoid, smooth, 1 or 2 ripening, seldom 3.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
42; T. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 90; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 97. 
NortH Istanp: Auckland—Open hillsides on the Paeroa Range, near Waiotapu, 
kK. W. Allison! Wellington—Saddle between Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu, 7. F. C. ; 
Waimarino Plains, 4. Phillips Turner! H,. Carse! Cockayne. Hawke’s Bay—Open 
downs on the east coast, Colenso / Waipawa County, H. Hill! Soura Istanp: Nelson 
—Spooner’s Ridge, #. G, Gibbs! Mount Arthur Plateau, 7. F. C,; Wangapeka Valley, 
T. Ff. C.; Lake Tennyson, Rk. M. Laing! T. Kirk! Canterbury—Near_Culverden, 
Lake Heron, Mount Arrowsmith, Cockayne ; Ribband-wood Range, Haast; Broken 
River, J. D. #nys/ Burnham, 7’. Kirk / Otago—Not rare, Petrie / Sea-level to 4000 ft. 
December—February. —, el ( iG iv) ar) 
Sir Joseph Hooker describes the flowers as occurring in few-flowered spikes, and 
the anthers as pubescent; but I have not seen any specimens answering to this. The 
flowers are pleasantly fragrant, and the scent often betrays the nresence of the piant 
jong before it is seen. 
