A-wmar 118 (task. ) Veerk _ ror Resmmifera ast.) Sakh. 
bull. ded. bet. Burt. weCen) 
Avicennaa. | VERBENACEAE. 765 
5 nearly equal spreading lobes. Stamens 4, inserted on the throat of the 
corolla; filaments short; anthers shortly exserted, ovate, cells parallel. 
Ovary imperfectly 4-celled by a 4-winged central column; ovules 4, 
pendulous between the wings of the column; style usually short, bifid. 
Capsule broad, compressed, coriaceous, 1-celled, 2-valved. Seed solitary, 
erect, consisting of a large embryo with the usual integuments very 
feebly developed ; cotyledons large, folded longitudinally ; radicle inferior, 
villous ; plumule conspicuous, germinating before the fall of the fruit. 
A genus comprising 2 or 3 very closely related species, widely spread along the 
shores of most tropical or subtropical countries. 
1. A. officinalis Linn. Sp. Plant. (1753) 110.— A shrub or small 
tree from 3 or 4 ft. to 15 or 25 ft. high or even more; roots putting up a 
multitude of stout asparagus-like suckers ; branches spreading, the vounger 
ones pubescent. Leaves 2-4in. long, ovate or elliptic-oblong or ovate- 
lanceolate, usually acute, narrowed into a short petiole, glabrous abeve and 
black when dry, hoary with a short dense pubescence beneath. Cymes 
contracted into small heads on erect angular peduncles. Flowers small, 
about tin. diam. Bracts and calyx-segments densely silky-tomentose. 
Corolla 4-lobed; lcbes coriaceous, ovate, acute, silky externally. Ovary 
hairy. Capsule large, about 1 in. diam.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
224: Benth. Fl. Austral. v (1870) 69; TY. Kirk Forest Fl. (1889) t. 130; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 566. A. tomentosa Jacq. Enum. Pl. Carib. 
25; A. Ounn. Precur. (1838) n. 389; Raoul Chow (1846) 48; Hook. f. FI. 
Nov. Zel. i (1853) 204. A. resinifera Forst. f. Pl. Escul. (1786) 72: Prodr. 
—n. 246; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. (1832) 195. ie 
Rotk . Trost. Be TN 
Norts Istanp: Muddy creeks and estuaries from the North Cape to Opotiki on 
the East Coast and Kawhia on the west. Manawa ; Mangrove. 
The Chatham Islands locality quoted in the Handbook on the authority of 
Dieffenbach is certainly erroneous. Probably he mistook flowerless specimens of Olearia 
Traversii for it. Forster’s name of A. resinifera was applied under the supposition 
that it produced a gum-resin which was eaten by the Maoris. This mistake doubtless 
originated through drifted pieces of kauri-gum (which was formerly used by the Maoris 
as a masticatory) having been picked up on some beach amongst the roots of Avicennia. 
Family XCIl. LABIATAE. 
Herbs or shrubs, the stems and branches usually quadrangular. Leaves 
opposite or whorled, frequently replete with glands containing an aromatic 
volatile oil; stipules wanting. Flowers hermaphrodite, irregular, solitary or 
in small axillary opposite cymes or clusters which are often aggregated 
into terminal spikes or racemes. Calyx inferior, persistent, 4—5-toothed or 
-cleft or 2-lipped. Corolla gamopetalous, hypogynous; limb more or less 
2-lipped, rarely equal; lobes 4-5, imbricate. Stamens inserted on the 
corolla-tube, usually 4 and then often didynamous, sometimes 2 only ; 
anther-cells separate or confluent. Ovary superior, of 2 connate deeply 
2-lobed carpels and hence 4-partite, 4-celled; style simple, proceeding 
from between the lobes of the ovary ; stigma usually 2-fid; ovules solitary 
in each cell, erect, anatropous. Fruit enclosed in the persistent calyx, of 
4 1-seeded nutlets. Seeds small, erect; albumen wanting or nearly so; 
radicle next the hilum. 
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Cty 
