Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/118

78 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 $1⁄6$ 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.

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.

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