Suttonia. | MYRSINACEAE. 715 
almost as large as the petals. Female flowers smaller than the males. 
Ovary conical, HaErOWeH above ; stigma large, irregularly lobed or expanded, 
Fruit globose, $-}+ in. diam., bluish- purple.—Mez in Pflanzenr. Heft 9 (1902) 
335. Myrsine itis nee ‘Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl, (1864) 184: Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 434. 
Nortu Istanp: Summit of Mount Hikurangi, East Cape district, G. Walliams / 
base of Mount Ruapehu, Petrie / Spencer / T. F. C., Cockayne ; Lake Rotoatara, Colenso / 
Ruahine and Kaimanawa Mountains, Colenso ; / B. CG. Aston! Upper Rangitikei, 
Buchanan ! Mount Holdsworth, Cockayne; Tararua Mountains, Buchanan! Petrie, 
B. C. Aston. Sourn Istanp: From Nelson and Marlborough, but not very common. 
Stewart IstanpD: Not very common, 7’. Kirk, Cockayne. Usually from 2000 to 
5000 ft., but descends to sea-level in Stewart Island. December—February. 
See AA fac. Gack SIne- “%-19SS : JOb, 
Family LXX XII. PRIMULACEAE. 
Perennial or more rarely annual herbs. Leaves all radical, or cauline, 
and if so, opposite or alternate or whorled; stipules wanting. Flowers 
hermaphrodite, regular. Calyx usually inferior (half-superior in Samolus), 
4—9-lobed or -partite. Corolla gamopetalous, with as many lobes as divisions 
of the calyx, lobes imbricate or contorted. Stamens equal in number to the 
corolla-lobes and opposite to them, sometimes alternating with staminodia, 
inserted in the tube or at the base of the corolla ; anthers 2-celled, introrse. 
Ovary superior (inferior in Samolus), 1-celled ; style short or long, stigma 
usually capitate ; ovules 2 or more, attached to a free central placenta. 
Fruit a 1-celled capsule, 2-6-valved or dehiscing transversely. Seeds 2 to 
many, minute, angular; albumen fleshy or horny; embryo small, trans- 
verse. 
A small family, comprising 28 genera and 350 species; widely spread, but most 
plentiful on the mountains of the North Temperate Zone, rare in the tropics, the 
southern species comparatively few. The properties of the family are insignificant ; but 
it includes many well-known garden-plants, as the primrose, oxlip, auricula, Chinese 
primrose, cyclamen, &c. The sole New Zealand genus is best represented in the 
Southern Hemisphere, but one of the species is almost cosmopolitan. 
SAMOLUS Tourn. /%235 
Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate. Flowers white, in terminal 
racemes or corymbs. Calyx half-superior, 5-fid, persistent. Corolla penr- 
gynous, subcampanulate ; tube short ; limb 5-lobed or -partite. Stamens 5, 
affixed to the corolla-tube, alternating with as many staminodes ; filaments 
very short. Ovary globose, adnate to the calyx-tube, the tip free; style 
short; ovules numerous, anatropous. Capsule globose or ovoid, half- 
inferior, the free part 5-valved, many-seeded. Seeds minute, orbicular or 
angled ; embryo transverse ; hilum basilar. 
Species 10, one of them almost cosmopolitan, most of the rest inhabiting various 
parts of the prpibers Hemisphere. 
CFere? .) 
1. S. repens, Pers. Syn. i (1801) 171.—A glabrous perennial herb ; stems 
4-]2in. long, erect, ascending, or prostrate from a tufted rootstock, often 
emitting creeping ‘and rooting stolons from the base. Leaves fleshy, 
very variable in size and shape, 4-lin. long, obovate or linear-obovate 
to linear-spathulate or linear, the lower ones usually broader and 
petiolate, the upper smaller and narrower and often sessile. Flowers about 
