Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/663

Viscum.] 3. V. salicornioides, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 485.—A small tufted perfectly glabrous much-branched leafless species 2–4 in. high; branches opposite, rather succulent, terete, jointed; joints $1⁄10$–$1⁄3$ in. long, $1⁄25$ in. broad, terete or obscurely flattened, expanded at the tip. Flowers very minute, diœcious, 4–8 together at the nodes, forming a ring round the branch, partly concealed by the expanded tip of the joints. Male flowers much the smallest; perianth-segments 3, triangular, each bearing a sessile anther on its inner face. Female flowers more numerous; ovary ovoid, crowned by 3 very minute perianth-lobes. Fruit $1⁄20$ in. long, ellipsoid, tipped by the persistent perianth-segments.—Raoul, Choix, 42; ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 101; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 108.





Trees or shrubs or herbs, often parasitic on the roots of other plants. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple and entire, sometimes reduced to minute scales or altogether wanting; stipules absent. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually small and greenish, solitary or in axillary or terminal cymes or spikes. Perianth superior or inferior, 3–6-lobed or -partite; lobes valvate,. often hairy behind the anthers. Stamens 3–6, inserted on the perianth-lobes and opposite to them; anthers 2-celled. Ovary inferior, rarely superior, 1-celled; style short; stigma capitate or 3–4-lobed; ovules 2–3, pendulous from a central column. Fruit an indehiscent nut or drupe. Seed solitary, globose or ovoid; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo usually small, terete, radicle superior.

Glabrous trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual by abortion, in axillary or terminal racemes or fascicles. Perianth-tube turbinate, adnate to the ovary and produced above it into a projecting rim; segments 4–6, each furnished with a tuft of hairs at the base. Stamens 4–6, affixed to the base of the perianth-segments and shorter than them; anthers ovate, dehiscing longitudinally. Disc lining the projecting