5, filaments inserted near the top of the corolla-tube, long or short; anthers exserted or included. Hypogynous scales free or connate. Ovary 5-celled; style long or short; stigma small; ovules solitary, pendulous from the top of the cell. Fruit a baccate drupe with 5 (or more) distinct 1-seeded pyrenes or nuts, sometimes fewer by abortion.
A small genus of 4 or 5 species, confined to the mountains of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. The single New Zealand species has the range of the genus.
1. P. pumila, R. Br. Prodr. 549.—A much and closely branched dwarf shrub 2–6 m. high; stems stout, woody, procumbent; branches ascending, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves numerous, crowded, suberect, ⅛–⅕ in. long, oblong or ovate-oblong, obtuse or with a callous tip, glossy, concave above, 3–7-nerved beneath; margins finely ciliolate. Flowers almost sessile, solitary at the tips of the branchlets, about ¼ in. long, white or red. Bracts several, small, obtuse; bracteoles much shorter than the calyx. Sepals obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube cylindrical, much longer than the calyx; lobes short, recurved, bearded within. Berry rather large, ¼–½ in. diam., globose or broadly pyriform, red; pyrenes quite free, varying in number from 5 to 10, but usually 8.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 217; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 410; Raoul, Choix, 44; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 166; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 178; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 164. P. rubra, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 601. P. polyphylla, Col. l.c. xxxi. (1899) 274. Trochocarpa novæ-zealandiæ, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 602. Epacris pumila, Forst. Prodr. n. 70.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Abundant in hilly and mountainous districts from Cape Colville and the East Cape southwards. Chiefly found between 2000 ft. and 5000 ft., but descends to sea-level on Stewart Island. December–February.
2. CYATHODES, Labill.
Shrubs, sometimes tall and erect, sometimes low-growing and diffuse or prostrate. Leaves scattered or imbricate, flat or convex, striate, often white beneath. Flowers small, axillary and solitary, on short peduncles; bracts several, imbricating, the uppermost larger and almost concealing the calyx. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla-tube usually longer than the calyx, rarely shorter; lobes 5, spreading or recurved, glabrous or bearded inside. Stamens 5, inserted near the top of the corolla-tube; filaments short, filiform or thickened; anthers oblong or linear, wholly or partly included in the corolla-tube or in the erect base of the lobes. Hypogynous disc cup-shaped or annular, or of 5 free scales. Ovary 3–5-celled (rarely 8–10-celled); style filiform; stigma small; ovules solitary, pendulous from the top of the cells. Fruit a baccate drupe; raesocarp fleshy; endoearp bony, 3–5-celled; cells 1-seeded.
