Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/690

650 a slender peduncle, variable in length, very slender, ¼–1 in. long. Anthers very numerous, often laxly placed; connective obtuse. Female flowers solitary, axillary, seated on the top of a short swollen peduncle. Fruit a small oblong-ovoid nut; peduncle much enlarged, fleshy and succulent, bright-red, usually with 2 acute projections at the top (adnate bracts), 1 on each side of the nut.—Raoul, Choix, 41; ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 232; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 257; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 40; Pilger, Pflanzenreich,'' iv. 5, 85. P. montanus, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 395.

5. P. ferrugineus, ''D. Don. in Lamb. Gen. Pinet.'' ed. ii. (1832) 189.—A tall forest-tree 50–80 ft. high with a rather narrow round-topped head; trunk 1–3 ft. diam.; bark greyish-brown or almost black, scaling off in large flakes. Leaves distichous, close-set, spreading, ½–¾ in. long, linear, falcate, acute or subacute, 1-nerved, margins recurved, red-brown when dry; those of young plants longer, narrower, and more acute. Flowers diœcious. Males axillary, solitary, sessile, cylindric, equalling or rather longer than the leaves. Anthers numerous, closely packed; connective obtuse. Female flowers solitary or very rarely geminate at the top of a curved peduncle clothed with minute scale-like bracts. Fruit large, broadly oblong, drupaceous, ¾ in. long, reddish-purple with a glaucous bloom, top of the peduncle not enlarged nor succulent.—''A. Cunn. Precur. n. 327; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 542; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 232; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 257; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 84; Pilger, Pflanzenreich,'' iv. 5, 66.

6. P. spicatus, ''R. Br. in Benn. Pl. Jav. Rar.'' 40.—A tall round-headed forest-tree 40–80 ft. high; branches numerous, crowded, erect; trunk 2–4 ft. diam.; bark black or bluish-black, scaling off in large flakes. Young plants with long slender flexuous and pendulous branches, clothed towards the tips with reddish-brown leaves. Leaves of mature plants distichous, ⅓–½ in. long, linear, straight or slightly falcate, obtuse or apiculate, coriaceous, green above, glaucous beneath. Flowers diœcious. Males numerous, ⅕–⅓ in. long, linear, obtuse, horizontal, arranged in axillary spikes. Anthers closely packed; connective ovate, acute. Female flowers in 3–8-flowered spikes. Fruit black or nearly so, globose, succulent, ¼–⅓ in. diam.; fleshy receptacle wanting.—''Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 543; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 232; Handb. N.Z. Fl.''