usually forming terminal or axillary corymbs or panicles. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, limb 5-toothed to the base, deciduous or reflexed. Petals 5 or wanting. Stamens 5; filaments longer than the petals; anthers oblong. Disc inconspicuous, surrounding the top of the ovary at the base of the calyx-lobes. Ovary more or less inferior; style 3-fid. Capsule small, upper part protruding above the calyx-tube, 3-valved; endocarp separating into 3 cocci, which either split down the inner face or open by an oblong lid. Seed on a thickened funicle.
A genus of about 22 species, restricted to Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Three of the New Zealand species are also found in Australia; the fourth is endemic.
| * Flowers with petals. | |
| Leaves 2–3 in., elliptic-oblong, obtuse, entire | 1. P. elliptica. |
| ** Flowers without petals. | |
| Leaves 2–4 in., oblong-ovate, crenulate; tomentum white or grey | 2. P. apetala. |
| Leaves ¾–2 in., oblong or oblong-lanceolate; tomentum often ferruginous | 3. P. Edgerleyi. |
| Leaves small, linear or oblong, 18–14 in., margins revolute to the midrib | 4. P. phylicæfolia. |
1. P. elliptica, Lab. Nov. Holl. Pl. i. 61, t. 86.—A sparingly branched shrub 4–8 ft. high; young branches, petioles, leaves beneath, and inflorescence densely clothed with fine white or buff stellate tomentum. Leaves shortly petiolate, 2–3 in. long, elliptic-oblong or ovate-oblong, obtuse or acute, quite entire, glabrous above, veins and midrib prominent beneath. Cymes numerous, terminal, forming large much-branched corymbose panicles. Flowers bright-yellow, 15–14 in. diam. Calyx covered with stellate tomentum mixed with long silky hairs. Petals with a broad blade with crisped margins and a long slender claw. Capsule small, the free portion shorter than the calyx-tube. Cocci opening by an oblong lid on the inner face.—Bot. Mag. t. 1510; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 46; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 43; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 417; Kirk, Students' Fl. 91. P. Kumeraho, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 577; Raoul, Choix, 50.
North Island: North Cape to Tauranga Harbour, on open clay hills. Kumarahou. September. Also in south-east Australia and Tasmania.
2. P. apetala, Lab. Nov. Holl. Pl. i. 52, t. 87.—A shrub or small tree 6–15 ft. high, rarely more; branchlets, undersurface of leaves, and inflorescence covered with dense white or greyish stellate tomentum. Leaves petiolate, 2–4 in. long, oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute, irregularly crenulate, glabrous and wrinkled above, veins prominent below. Flowers small, numerous, in terminal and axillary panicles 3–7 in. long. Calyx-tube short, clothed with stellate hairs. Petals wanting.
