Aristolelia. | ELAEOCARPACEAE. 559 
Nelson to Otago, not uncommon. Srewart Ispanp: Rakiahua River, Cockayne. 
Usually from 1500 to 4500 ft., but descends almost to sea-level in Foveaux Strait and 
Stewart Island. 
A puzzling plant. There is an unnamed specimen of old date in Mr. Colenso’s 
herbarium which agrees perfectly with Hooker’s description ; but all the South Island 
specimens that I have seen have broader and less acuminate leaves. Probably all are 
nothing more than forms of A. racemosa. , 
3. A. fruticosa Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 34.—A very variable 
much-branched erect or decumbent shrub 3-8 ft. high; branches often 
close and rigid; bark red-brown; branchlets, petioles, and pedicels pubes- 
cent. Leaves excessively variable, of young plants linear or lanceolate, 
4-11 in. long, acute or acuminate, toothed lobed or pinnatifid ; on mature 
plants 1-lin. long, ovate-obovate or oblong-obovate or linear-oblong, 
obtuse, coriaceous, entire crenate serrate or shortly lobed; petioles short, 
stout. Flowers small, axillary, solitary or in 3-6-flowered racemes or cymes ; 
pedicels short, pubescent. Sepals 4, oblong, obtuse, pubescent. Petals 4, 
shorter or longer than the sepals, entire or with 1-4 irregular shallow notches 
at the apex. Stamens 4-6; filaments very short. Berry very small, 
globose. Seeds usually 4.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 33; 7. Kirk Students’. 
Fl. (1899) 75; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 84. A. erecta Buch. on Trans, — 
N.Z. Inst. iii (1871) 209. Myrsine brachyclada Col. in Trans. N.Z. inst. 
xxi (1890) 478. ( 
’ ie bean t Cl t 
ae) oe 
m. se) , 
iarked 
s, and 
oiten 
3, and 
Family LXVI. TILIACEAE. 
Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs. Leaves alternate, seldom opposite, simple, 
entire or toothed or lobed. Stipules present. Flowers regular, usually 
hermaphrodite, axillary or terminal, generally cymose. Sepals 4—5, free 
or connate, valvate. Petals 4-5, seldom fewer, rarely wanting, sometimes 
glandular at the base. Stamens usually numerous, free or united in groups, 
usually inserted on the disc; anthers 2-celled. Ovary; free, 2-10-celled ; 
style simple or divided into as many lobes or stigmas as there are cells to 
the ovary; ovules few or many, attached to the inner angle of the cell. 
Fruit dry or fleshy, dehiscent or indehiscent, 2—10-celled or by abortion 
l-celled. . Seeds solitary, or many; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo 
straight. ° 
A family comprising 35 genera and about 320 species, chiefly tropical and sub- 
tropical. One well-known genus (T7lia) is found in the North Temperate Zone, and 
several are endemic in southern latitudes or extend thereto. The most important plant 
is Corchorus capsularis, which yields the fibre known as jute. All the species are 
innocuous. The single New Zealand genus is endemic, but it is closely allied to the 
South African Sparrmannia, 
