764 VERBENACEABE. [ Vitex, 
bony, 4-celled ; seeds seldom more than | or 2.—Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 
(1906) 565; Jil. N.Z. Fl. ui (1914) t. 161. V. littoralis A. Cunn. Precur. 
(1838) n. 390 (not of Decaisne); Raoul Choiz (1846) 44: Hook. Ie. 
Plant. (1842) tt. 419, 420; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 203; Handb, 
N.Z, Fl. (1864) 223; T. Kirk Forest Fl. (1889) t. 105. 
Norta Istanp: Abundant from the North Cape to the Waikato and Upper 
Thames, then sparingly southwards to Mahia’ Peninsula and Cape Egmont. Sea-level 
to 2500 ft. Puriri ; Kauere. June—October. 
A well-known tree, producing the most valuable hardwood in the Dominion, 
extensively used for all purposes requiring great strength and durability, as railway- 
sleepers, the framework of bridges, piles, house-blocks, &c. Also greatly employed for 
furniture and cabinetwork, and quite equal in figure and general appearance to the 
best Italian or American walnut. 
2. TEUCRIDIUM Hook. f.'* 74 
A much-branched shrub; branchlets slender, 4-angled. Leaves small, 
opposite, petiolate, entire. lowers axillary, solitary. Calyx broadly 
campanulate, 5-lobed; lobes acute. Corolla-tube ‘short; limb oblique, 
spreading, 2-lipped, 5-lobed; the lower lobe the largest. Stamens 4, 
didynamous, attached to the base of the corolla-tube, far-exserted ; anthers 
l-celled. Ovary villous at the tip, 4-lobed, imperfectly 4-celled ; ovules 1 
in each cell, pendulous; style slender, arcuate, 2-fid; branches subulate, 
shortly stigmatose. Fruit small, sunk in the persistent calyx, 4-lobed to 
the middle, ultimately splitting into 4 hispid pyrenes. Seed solitary in 
each pyrene, laterally affixed; albumen wanting; cotyledons large. 
| A peculiar monotypic genus confined to New Zealand. Although allied to Vitex, 
it has the anomalous character of a 4-lobed ovary, thus showing an approach to the 
Labiatae. 
!. T. parvifolium Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 203, t. 49.— An 
erect much-branched shrub 2-5 ft. high; branches slender, twiggy, more or 
less pubescent. Leaves rather distant, petiolate ; blade 4~1in. long, ovate 
or orbicular-ovate or ovate-spathulate, obtuse, membranous; petioles 
short, equalling the blade. Flowers about $in. long; peduncles short, 
2-bracteolate. Calyx-lobes subulate. Corolla bluish, hairy. Fruiting- 
calyx %in. diam.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 224; Oheesem. Man. N.Z. FI. 
(1906) 566. See Tians ST 1F2bh > SG. a TW CiGem) 
Var. luxurians Cheesem. n, var.—Leaves larger, the blades sometimes mere than 
2in. long. Flowers frequently (but not invariably) in 2-3-flowered cymes, River-flats _ 
by the Mangles River, Buller Valley, H. H, Allan ! Ef dicwminre, , Ka 4 . we 
NortH AND Sout Is~tanps: Auckland—Whangaroa, Buchanan ;/ Te Aroha, 
Adams! 7. F. C.; Taumaranui, B. CO. Aston! Hawke's Bay—Kereru, 7. Kirk / 
Wellington—Wairarapa Valley, Colenso, Buchanan ! Nelson—Foxhill, Bidwill, T. F.C. ; 
Wairoa, 7. Kirk! Marlborough—Lower Awatere, Cockayne. Canterbury—Akaroa, ~~ 
Faoul ; Banks Peninsula, J, F. Armstrong and others. Canterbury Plains, ¥. 7. L. “i 
Travers. Otago— Vicinity of Dunedin, Buchanan! Petrie! T. Kirk! and others ; 
Otepopo, Bendigo, Queensberry, Balclutha, Petrie! | Usually in lowland districts, not 
common, October—January. ; 
3. AVICENNIA Linn. 17 3S 
Littoral shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite, quite entire, coriaceous. 
Flowers in contracted pedunculate cymes in the axils of the upper leaves 
or in trichotomous corymbs at the ends of the branches. Calyx short, 
S-partite, unchanged in fruit. Corolla-tube short and broad ; lmb of 4 or 
Alec .- ‘© bak hunter, s NOS defor etciwns 2, Auk. 22. W.C. 
AL Geet“ Molncca., PLN fire, > CalapegeS, 
