1. HALORAGIS, Forst.
Erect or procumbent branching wiry herbs, sometimes almost woody at the base. Leaves opposite or alternate, entire or toothed or lobed. Flowers unisexual or hermaphrodite, minute, axillary, solitary or clustered, often spicate or racemose. Calyx-tube 4–8-angled or winged; lobes 4, erect, persistent. Petals 4, cucullate, acute, coriaceous, often wanting in the female flowers. Stamens 4–8, filaments usually short. Ovary 2–4-celled; ovules solitary in each cell, pendulous; styles short, stigmas usually plumose in the female flowers. Fruit a small dry 2–4-celled 2–4-seeded nut, sometimes 1-celled and 1-seeded by abortion; the adnate calyx-tube either smooth, ribbed, or muricate.
About 50 species are known, mostly from Australia, but a few are also found in New Caledonia, eastern Asia, and temperate South America (Juan Fernandez). Four of the New Zealand species occur in Australia, and one in the island of Juan Fernandez as well.
| Leaves large, lanceolate or oblong, 1–3 in. Flowers crowded, drooping | 1. H. alata. |
| Leaves small, ¼–¾ in., floral ones alternate. Flowers erect, spicate. Fruit 4–8-costate, rugose or tuberculate between the ribs | 2. H. tetragyna. |
| Leaves small, 110–12 in., floral ones opposite. Flowers erect, spicate or solitary. Fruit 4–8-costate, smooth between the ribs | 3. H. depressa. |
| Leaves small, ⅓–⅔ in. Flowers in terminal panicles. Fruit 4–8-costate, smooth between the ribs | 4. H. spicata. |
| Leaves small, 15–13 in. Flowers drooping, in naked spikes. Fruit 8-costate, smooth between the ribs | 5. H. micrantha. |
1. H. alata, Jacq. Misc. ii. 332.—A coarse erect or suberect branching herb 1–3 ft. high; stems sharply 4-angled, minutely scabrid. Leaves opposite, petiolate, very variable in size, ½–3in. long, ovate-lanceolate to oblong, coarsely and sharply serrate, acute or acuminate. Flowers minute, solitary or clustered, in leafy racemes terminating the branches; pedicels short, curved, drooping. Calyx-tube 4-angled; lobes small, broad. Petals twice as long as the calyx-lobes. Stamens 8. Fruit rather small, 110 in. long, ovoid, with 4 ribs more or less dilated into wings; interspaces smooth or rugose.—Forst. Prodr. n. 180; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 62; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 65; Benth. Fl. Austral. ii. 479; Kirk, Students' Fl. 148. Cercodia erecta, Murr. in Comm. Gotting. iii. (1780) 3, t. 1. C. alternifolia, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 527.
Var. cartilaginea.—Shorter and stouter. Leaves ½–¾ in., broadly ovate, obtuse or subacute, coarsely serrate, very coriaceous, margins cartilaginous. Fruit conspicuously rugose.—H. cartilaginea, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxix (1897) 890.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Abundant, especially in lowland districts. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Toatoa. November–January. Also in south-eastern Australia and the island of Juan Fernandez. Var. cartilaginea: Cliffs at the North Cape, T. F. C.
