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Leafless twining parasites, attaching themselves to living shrubs or trees by means of small suckers; stems terete, wiry or filiform. Leaves replaced by minute scales. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, in spikes or heads or racemes, each flower 3-bracteolate. Perianthtube turbinate or ovoid; segments of the limb 6, the 3 outer much smaller. Perfect stamens usually 9 in 3 series; the two outer series either all perfect or rarely the second series reduced to staminodia; anthers introrse; filaments eglandular; the third series all perfect with extrorse anthers, the filaments 2-glandular at the base; an inner fourth series of 3 staminodia present. Ovary almost free from the perianth at the time of flowering; stigma small. Fruit altogether enclosed in the enlarged, and succulent perianth-tube, crowned by the persistent limb. Seed with a membranous testa. Embryo with thick fleshy cotyledons, which are distinct in the young state, but confluent when mature.

1. C. paniculata, R. Br. Prodr. 404.—Stems pale yellow-green, much branched, several feet in length, covering small shrubs with dense interwoven masses; branches $1⁄10$ in. diam., glabrous or minutely silky at the very tips; scales mmute, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, membranous. Spikes numerous, often branched, ½–2 in. long. Flowers minute, distant, sessile, about $1⁄10$ in. diam. Perianth glabrous; the 3 outer segments very small; the inner obtuse. Stamens 9, all perfect. Ovary glabrous. Fruit globose, about the size of a pea, enclosed in the enlarged and succulent perianth-tube, obscurely 6-ribbed or quite smooth.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 218; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 239; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 311.





Shrubs or trees, rarely herbs. Leaves usually alternate, very rarely opposite or whorled, generally hard and coriaceous, entire or toothed or variously divided; stipules wanting. Flowers usually hermaphrodite, inflorescence various. Perianth inferior, regular or irregular; segments 4, valvate, at first cohering into a cylindric tube, at length separating and becoming revolute. Stamens 4, inserted on the perianth-segments and opposite to them; filaments short; anthers erect, adnate, 2-celled, introrse. Hypogynous glands 4, alternating with the stamens. Ovary superior, 1-celled, often oblique; style terminal, variously thickened and enlarged at