A peculiar monotypic genus confined to New Zealand. Although allied to Vitex, it has the anomalous character of a 4-lobed ovary, thus showing an approach to the Labiatæ.
1. T. parvifolium, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 203, t. 49.—An erect much-branched shrub 2–5 ft. high; branches slender, twiggy, more or less pubescent. Leaves rather distant, petiolate; blade ⅙–½ in. long, ovate or orbicular-ovate or ovate-spathulate, obtuse, membranous; petioles short, equalling the blade. Flowers about ⅓ in. long; peduncles short, 2-bracteolate. Calyx-lobes subulate. Corolla bluish, hairy. Fruiting-calyx ⅙ in. diam.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 224.
North and South Islands: Lowland districts from Whangaroa North to Otago, rare and local. October–January.
3. AVICENNIA, Linn.
Littoral shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite, quite entire, coriaceous. Flowers in contracted pedunculate cymes in the axils of the upper leaves or in trichotoraous corymbs at the ends of the branches. Calyx short, 5-partite, unchanged in fruit. Corollatube short and broad; limb of 4 or 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. 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 younger ones pubescent. Leaves 2–4 in. long, ovate or ellipticoblong or ovate-lanceolate, usually acute, narrowed into a short petiole, glabrous above and black when dry, hoary with a short dense pubescence beneath. Cymes contracted into small heads on erect angular peduncles. Flowers small, about ¼ in. diam. Bracts and calyx-segments densely silky-tomeutose. Corolla 4-lobed; lobes coriaceous, ovate, acute, silky externally. Ovary hairy. Capsule large, about 1 in. diam.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 224; Benth. Fl. Austral. v. 69; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 130. A. tomentosa, Jacq. Enum. Pl. Carib. 25; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 389; Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 204. A. resinifera, Forst. Pl. Escul. 72; Prodr. n. 246; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 195.
