mersed at the base.—P. Urvilleana, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 356; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 324; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 228; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 254. Piper simplex, Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfl. 37.
Kermadec Islands, North Island: On rocks and trees in damp shady places as far south as Taranaki and the northern portion of the Wellington Province. Flowers most of the year.
Also found in Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. I suspect that Colenso's P. muricatulata (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 393) is a large-leaved state, but there are no specimens in his herbarium, and it is impossible to be sure from the description alone.
Order LVII. CHLORANTHACEÆ.
Shrubs or trees, rarely herbs, generally aromatic. Leaves opposite, usually toothed, petioles often connate at the base; stipules small, subulate. Flowers small, unisexual, in terminal or axillary spikes or panicles. Perianth wanting (rarely present in the female flowers). Stamens either 1 or 3 connate; filaments shore and thick; anthers 2-celled, or when there are 3 the lateral 1-celled. Ovary 1-celled; stigma either sessile or style very short; ovule solitary, orthotropous, pendulous from the top of the cell. Fruit a small globose or ovoid drupe. Seed pendulous; testa membranous; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo minute, remote from the hilum, radicle inferior.
A small and unimportant order, comprising 3 genera and 25 species, mostly tropical or subtropical.
1. ASCARINA, Forst.
Aromatic shrubs or small trees; branchlets jointed at the nodes. Leaves opposite, serrate, penniveined; petioles connate at the base into a short sheath; stipules small, subulate. Flowers minute, diœcious, arranged in simple or branched spikes. Perianth wanting in both sexes. Male flowers: Stamen solitary; anther sessile, linear-oblong, cylindric, 2-celled; cells parallel, dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers: Ovary naked, ovoid or subglobose; stigma sessile, truncate. Drupe small, putamen fragile.
A small genus of three species, all very closely allied, found in New Zealand and the Pacific islands from New Caledonia eastwards to Tahiti.
| Leaves 2–4 in., ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate. Anthers ⅛ in. long | 1. A. lanceolata. |
| Leaves 1–2 in., elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong, obtuse or acute. Anthers 110 in. long | 2. A. lucida. |
1. A. lanceolata, Hook. f. in Journ. Linn. Soc. (1856) 127.—A perfectly glabrous bushy shrub or small tree 6–15 ft. high, rarely more; branches dark purplish-red, striate when dry. Leaves 2–4 in. long including the petiole, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceo-
