Male perianth ⅓–½ in. diam., saucer-shaped, pubescent. Stamens very numerous; anthers sessile, pubescent along the back. Female perianth ¼ in. across. Carpels 8–20. Drupes 4–10, crowded, stipitate, -g-in. long, oblong, obtuse, bright-red, succulent; endocarp hard, crustaceous.—H. dentata, Forst. Prodr. n. 379; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 354; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 336; Raoul, Choix, 30, t. 30; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 219; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 240; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 110. H. scabra, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 337. Zanthoxylum novæ-zealandiæ, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 291, t. 33.
North and South Islands: Abundant in woods from the Three Kings Islands and the North Cape to Banks Peninsula and Milford Sound. Sea-level to 2500ft. Porokaiwhiri. October–November.
The specific name arborea was applied in J. and G. Forster's "Characteres Generum," published in 1776, and must therefore take precedence over that of dentata, published by G. Forster in the "Prodromus" in 1786.
2. LAURELIA, Juss.
Tall aromatic forest-trees. Leaves opposite, coriaceous. Flowers diœcious or polygamous, in axillary cymes or racemes. Male flowers: Perianth-tube short, campanulate; lobes 5–12, in 2 or 3 series, subequal or ihe outer shorter. Stamens 6–12; filaments short. 2-glandular at the base; anthers 2-celled, opening by 2 upturned valves. Female flowers (or hermaphrodite): Perianth elongating after fertilisation, narrow-urceolate or tubular, ultimately 3–5-cleft. Stamens reduced to scales, or the outer series alone perfect. Carpels numerous, fusiform, pilose, narrowed into long plumose styles; ovule solitary, erect, anatropous. Achenes small, densely pilose, included in the enlarged perianth. Seed albuminous; embryo small, radicle inferior.
Besides the New Zealand species, which is endemic, there is a second found in Chili. The genus is very closely allied to the Australian Atherosperma, which principally differs in the flowers being seated within 2 cymbiform bracts.
1. L. novæ-zealandiæ, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 354.—A tall forest-tree, often attaining a height of 80 to 100 or even 120 ft.; trunk 4–6 ft. diam., usually with radiating buttresses at the base; bark pale, almost white; branchlets opposite, tetragonous, the younger ones faintly pubescent. Leaves opposite, petiolate, 1½–3 in. long, oblong or elliptic-oblong or obovate, obtuse, cuneate at the base, coarsely and bluntly serrate, coriaceous, dark-green and glossy above, paler beneath, glabrous or silky-pubescent when young. Flowers small, ⅕–¼ in. diam., polygamo-diœcious, in axillary racemes ½–1 in. long; pedicels silky, as is the perianth externally. Male perianth shallow, 5–6-partite almost to the base; stamens about 12. Female (or hermaphrodite) perianth with a swollen tube contracted above; segments of the limb short, spreading. Stamens either all reduced to erect scales, or some or all of the outer row perfect.
