diœcious. Male flowers: Sepals 4, free, oblong or ovate. Stamens 8–10, rather longer than the sepals; filaments very short. Females: Sepals narrower, more erect. Style stout, 2-fid, long-exserted. Capsule ¾ in. diam., compressed, orbicular, very broadly 2–3-winged, 2-lobed at each end; wings veined, membranous.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 38; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 45; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 17; Students' Fl. 94. D. spathulata, Smith in Rees Cyclop. xii. n. 2; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 308; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 599; Raoul, Choix, 47.
North and South Islands: From the North Cape as far south as Banks Peninsula, chiefly in lowland districts. Akeake. September-November.
Wood hard and heavy; formerly much used by the Maoris for making clubs, spears, &c.
2. ALECTRYON, Gærtn.
A lofty tree. Leaves alternate, pinnate, exstipulate; leaflets entire or toothed. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, in axillary or terminal many-flowered panicles. Calyx 4–5-lobed, villous within, lobes unequal, imbricate. Petals wanting. Disc small, 8-lobed. Stamens 5–8, inserted within the lobes of the disc; anthers large. Ovary obliquely obcordate, compressed, 1-celled; style short; stigma simple or 2–3-lobed; ovule solitary. Capsule coriaceous or almost woody, subglobose, turgid, with a flattened prominence or crest towards the top. Seed subglobose, arillate; testa crustaceous; cotyledons spirally coiled.
A monotypic genus confined to New Zealand.
1. A. excelsum, Gærtn. Fruct. i. 216, t. 46.—A handsome tree 30–60 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. in diam. or more; bark black; young branches, leaves below, inflorescence, and capsules clothed with silky ferruginous pubescence. Leaves unequally pinnate, 4–12 in. long; leaflets 4–6 pairs, shortly petioled, 2–4 in. long, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire or obscurely remotely toothed, membranous. Panicles 4–12 in. long, much branched. Anthers large, dark-red. Ovary pilose. Capsule ⅓–½ in. long, opening transversely but irregularly. Seed large, almost globose, jet-black and shining, half imbedded in a bright scarlet fleshy cupshaped aril.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 598; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 570; Raoul, Choix, 47; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 38; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 45; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 92, 93; Students' Fl. 95.
Var. grandis, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv. (1892) 409.—Leaves much larger, 12-18 in. long; leaflets 2-3 pairs, 5-7 in. long, oblong or ovate, obtuse or subacute, entire or with 2-3 coarse teeth. Flowers not seen, and only fragments of old capsules.
North and South Islands: North Cape to Banks Peninsula and Westland, common. Var. grandis: Three Kings Islands, T. F. C. Ascends to 2000 ft. Titoki. October-December.
Yields a tough and elastic timber, valuable for axe-handles, bullock-yokes, &c. The Maoris formerly extracted an oil from the seeds. Var. grandis is doubtless a distinct species, but in the absence of flowers and fruit I hesitate to describe it as such.
