Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/143

Dodonæa.] 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.

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.

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.