Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/616

576 , acute, concave, minutely serrulate, coriaceous. Peduncles axillary, solitary, very short in the flowering stage, but lengthening in fruit and overtopping the leaves. Flowers minute, in pairs or more rarely solitary at the top of the peduncle, sessile within 4 minute concave bracts placed crosswise. Perianth 4-lobed. Stamen 1, inserted on an annular membrane near the mouth of the perianth. Fruiting perianth about $1⁄12$ in. long, hard, ovoid at the base; lobes erect. Utricle membranous, included.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 234; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 259. Mniarum biflorum, ''Forst. Char. Gen. 2, t. 1; Prodr. n. 6; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 319; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 368; Raoul, Choix,'' 43. M. fasciculatum, Raoul, l.c. (not of B. Br.). Ditoca muscosa, ''Banks ex Gaertn. Fruct.'' ii. 196, t. 126.





Herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, simple and entire, exstipulate. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually regular, generally arranged in spikes or cymes or clusters, each flower seated within 2 scarious bracteoles and subtended by a larger scarious bract. Perianth inferior, persistent, rigid and scarious, often coloured, of 4–5 free or slightly connate segments, imbricate in bud. Stamens hypogynous, 4–5, seldom fewer, opposite to the sepals; filaments free or connate, or united with intervening staminodia into a cup-shaped ring; anthers 1- or 2-celled. Ovary superior, 1-celled; style long or short, simple or divided into 2–3 branches or separate styles; ovules 1 or more, attached to a slender basal funicle. Fruit usually a membranous utricle, rarely a capsule or berry, enclosed or resting upon the persistent perianth. Seeds 1 or more, usually compressed, vertical; albumen farinaceous; embryo annular or curved.

Annual or perennial herbs, usually prostrate or decumbent, rarely erect, glabrous or more or less pubescent or tomentose. Leaves opposite. Flowers small, whitish, capitate; heads sessile in the axils of the leaves, often clustered. Perianth 5-partite; segments unequal, the anterior and 2 posterior flattened, the 2 lateral innermost, concave. Stamens 2–5; filaments short, connate at the