the base, membranous; petioles slender, ½–1 in. long. Flowers small, unisexual, very numerous, in terminal and axillary decompound panicles 4–9 in. long; pedicels slender. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. Petals oblong-spathulate, obtuse, clawed, much smaller in the female flowers. Staminal column exserted in the males, long and slender, bearing numerous almost sessile anthers at the tip. Fruiting carpels 16 in. diam., seated in the persistent veined calyx, ovoid, acuminate, downy. Seed solitary.—Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 29; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 30; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 103, 104; Students' Fl. 71. P. urticinus, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 606. P. chathamica, Cockayne in Trans. N.Z . Inst. xxxiv. (1902) 319 (name only). Philippodendron regium, Poit. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. ii. viii. t. 3.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Lowland forests from Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards, but often local. Ascends to 1500ft. November–December. Ribbon-wood of Europeans; manatu of the Maoris.
Practically diœcious, although a few hermaphrodite flowers are sometimes mixed with the males. The male flowers are whitish-yellow, and are produced in immense profusion; the ovary is much reduced in size, and the style always included in the staminal column. The females are greenish, smaller and less numerous, the petals are smaller and adnate for some distance to the staminal column, the anthers are devoid of pollen, and the style exserted.
Mr. Cockayne separates his P. chathamica on the ground of its not passing through a young stage with foliage differing from that of the mature tree. Flowering specimens from the Chatham Islands in my herbarium have rather larger calyces than the type, but I can see no other difference. For a full description of the seedlings and young plants of both forms, reference should be made to Mr. Cockayne's paper, "An Inquiry into the Seedling Forms of New Zealand Phanerogams and their Development, Part IV." (Trans. N.Z. Inst, xxxiii. 273–282).
2. HOHERIA, A. Cunn.
A shrub or small tree. Leaves petiolate, alternate, serrate. Flowers numerous, in axillary fascicles, white; peduncles jointed at the middle. Bracteoles wanting. Calyx hemispherical, 5-toothed. Petals oblique, notched near the apex. Staminal column split at the top into numerous filaments, usually arranged in 5 bundles. Ovary 5-celled, rarely more; ovules 1 in each cell; style-branches as many as the cells, filiform; stigmas capitate. Fruiting carpels 5, placed round a central axis from which they fall away when ripe, indehiscent, furnished with a broad membranous wing at the back. Seed pendulous.
A genus confined to New Zealand. It is doubtful whether it should be regarded as composed of one highly variable species or of 3 or 4 closely allied ones.
1. H. populnea, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 600.—A small handsome tree 10–30 ft. high, glabrous except the young shoots, peduncles, and calyces, which are usually more or less pubescent; bark tough. Leaves extremely variable, especially in young plants, ranging from
