equal to them in number, rarely twice as many. Ovary inferior, 1–4-celled, crowned by a fleshy disc; style single (3 in Griselinia), long or short; ovules solitary (rarely 2–3), pendulous from the top of the cell, anatropous. Fruit usually drupaceous, indehiscent, 1–4-celled, or rarely with 2 pyrenes. Seed pendulous, testa thin; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo axile, radicle superior.
A small order, scattered over the whole world, but chiefly found in the north temperate zone. Genera 12; species 75. Properties unimportant. Of the 2 New Zealand genera, Corokia is endemic; Griselinia extends to South America.
Hermaphrodite. Leaves narrow, silky-tomentose below | 1. Corokia. |
Diœcious. Leaves broad, glabrous | 2. Griselinia. |
1. COROKIA, A. Cunn.
Evergreen shrubs; branches straight or tortuous; bark black. Leaves alternate or fascicled, petiolate, entire. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, yellow, in axillary or terminal panicles, racemes, or fascicles. Calyx-tube turbinate; limb 5-lobed, valvate. Petals 5, valvate, furnished with a small scale at the base, silky outside. Stamens 5. Ovary 1–2-celled; style short; stigma almost capitate, 2-lobed. Drupe ovoid or broadly oblong, crowned by the persistent calyx-limb, 1–2-celled; seeds 1 in each cell.
A small genus of 3 species, confined to the New Zealand area.
Leaves lanceolate. Flowers in terminal panicles | 1. C. buddleoides. |
Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in axillary racemes | 2. C. macrocarpa. |
Leaves orbicular or obovate, narrowed into short flat petioles. Flowers in few-flowered fascicles or solitary | 3. C. Cotoneaster. |
1. C. buddleoides, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 579.—An erect much-branched slender shrub 6–12 ft. high; young branchlets, undersurface of leaves, and inflorescence densely clothed with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, shortly petioled, 3–6 in. long, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green and shining above; veins reticulated. Panicles terminal, leafy at the base. Flowers ¼–⅓ in diam., yellow. Petals oblong-lanceolate. Drupe oblong, ¼ in. long, dark-red.—Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 424; Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.
North Island: Not uncommon in woods from the North Cape as far south as the East Cape. Sea-level to 8000 ft. Korokia-taranga. November–December.
2. C. macrocarpa, T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.—An erect shrub 15–20 ft. high; branches stout, spreading; branchlets, leaves beneath, and branches of the inflorescence densely covered with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, 2–4 in. long, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, acute or apiculate, rarely obtuse, coriaceous, gradually narrowed into rather short petioles. Flowers ⅓ in. diam., yellow, in axillary racemes shorter than the leaves;