Stamens numerous, rarely few, usually inserted on the torus, which is often elevated and disc-like; anthers 2-celled. Ovary free, 2–10-celled; style simple or divided into as many lobes or stigmas as there are cells to the ovary; ovules few or many, attached to the inner angle of the cell. Fruit dry or fleshy, dehiscent or indehiscent, 2–10-celled, or by abortion 1-celled. Seeds solitary or many; albumen usually copious, fleshy; embryo straight or seldom curved, radicle next the hilum.
An order comprising about 45 genera and 350 species, chiefly tropical and subtropical. One genus (Tilia) is found in the north temperate zone; and several are endemic in southern latitudes or extend thereto. The most important economic plant is Corchorus capsularis, which yields the fibre known as jute. All the species are innocuous. Of the three New Zealand genera, Entelea is endemic; Aristotelia extends to Australia, Tasmania, and temperate South America; while Elæocarpus is mainly Indian and Malayan, stretching southwards to Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
| Leaves large, alternate. Capsule clothed with rigid bristles | 1. Entelea. |
| Leaves opposite. Fruit a berry | 2. Aristotelia. |
| Leaves alternate. Fruit a drupe | 3. Elæocarpus. |
1. ENTELEA, R.Br.
A shrub or small tree. Leaves large, alternate, cordate, 5–7-nerved, toothed or crenate. Flowers in terminal umbelliform cymes, large, white, bracteate. Sepals 4–5, free. Petals the same number, crumpled. Stamens numerous, all fertile, free; anthers versatile. Ovary 4–6-celled; style simple; stigma terminal, denticulate or fringed; ovules numerous in each cell. Capsule globose, covered with long rigid bristles, loculicidally 4–6-valved. Seeds numerous, obovoid; testa coriaceous; albumen oily.
The genus consists of a single endemic species. It is very closely allied to the South African Sparmannia.
1. E. arborescens, R.Br. in Bot. Mag. t. 2480.—A handsome shrub or small tree 8–20 ft. high, with a trunk 5–9 in. diam.; wood exceedingly light. Young branches, leaves, petioles, and inflorescence covered with short soft stellate hairs. Leaves alternate, large, on petioles 4–8 in. long; blade 4–9 in. or more, obliquely rounded-ovate, cordate at the base, acuminate, irregularly doubly crenate-serrate, often obscurely 3-lobed, 5–7-nerved from the base; stipules persistent. Flowers very abundant, in erect terininal or axillary cymes, white, lin. diam. Sepals acuminate. Ovary hispid. Capsule 1 in. diam., globose, echinate with long rigid bristles.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 601; Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 31; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 32; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 33; Students Fl. 74. Apeiba australis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 301, t. 34.
