whorl on a flat receptacle, always 1-celled. Ovules 2 or several, attached to the ventral suture. Ripe carpels either dry and follicular, or succulent and berried, rarely woody. Seeds solitary or several; embryo minute, at the base of copious albumen.
A small order, mainly found in eastern and tropical Asia and North America. Genera 11; species about 80. Some of the species of Magnolia are strikingly beautiful in both flowers and foliage, and must rank among the finest known trees. The sole New Zealand genus is a somewhat anomalous member of the order, belonging to the tribe Wintereæ, characterized by the exstipulate leaves, polygamous flowers, and the carpels few in number in a single whorl.
1. DRIMYS, Forst.
Glabrous and aromatic trees and shrubs, usually of small size. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, marked with pellucid dots. Flowers small. Calyx cupuliform in the New Zealand species, the margin shortly and irregularly toothed or lobed, or entire. Petals 5 or 6 or more, in 2 or more whorls, spreading. Stamens with the filaments thickened above; anther-cells diverging. Carpels 1 to several; ovules few or many. Fruit of one or several indehiscent berries.
A small genus of 10 or 12 species, found in South America, New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, and Borneo. The three New Zealand species are all endemic.
| Large shrub or small tree. Bark black. Leaves 2–5 in., not blotched. Fascicles 3–10-flowered | 1. D. axillaris. |
| Large shrub or small tree. Bark black. Leaves 1½–2½ in., blotched with red. Fascicles 2–4-flowered | 2. D. colorata. |
| Small compact shrub, 3–5 ft. high. Bark reddish-yellow, rugose. Leaves ½–1 in.; petioles appressed. Flowers solitary or two together | 3. D. Traversii. |
1. D. axillaris, Forst. Char. Gen. t. 42.—A small tree 12–25 ft. in height, rarely more; bark black. Leaves 2–5 in. long, on short petioles, elliptic-ovate or elliptic-oblong, obtuse, coriaceous or rarely submembranous, green on both surfaces or glaucous below, not blotched. Flowers small, greenish-yellow, in fascicles of 3–10 in the axils of the leaves, or from the scars of fallen leaves; pedicels ¼–¾ in. long. Calyx cupular, with 2–6 irregular shallow lobes or notches. Petals 5–6, linear, spreading. Stamens 6–15, in 3 series. Carpels 3–5. Berries 2 or 3, about the size of a peppercorn; seeds 3–6, black, angular.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 290; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 629; Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 47; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 12; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 10; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 1; Students' Fl. 22. Wintera axillaris, Forst. Prodr. n. 229.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon in forests from Ahipara to Banks Peninsula. Altitudinal range from sea-level to 2800 ft. Horopito. October–December.
Aromatic and pungent, but not so much so as the following species. The wood is serviceable for inlaying, and a decoction of the bark is occasionally used by country settlers as an astringent.
