Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/743

Rhipogonum.]

Tall climbing shrubs, much branched above. Leaves opposite or nearly so, 3–5-nerved with transverse reticulated veins between; petioles without tendrils. Flowers hermaphrodite, small, shortly pedicelled, racemose; racemes axillary or termmal, simple or compound, sometimes forming a terminal panicle. Perianth deciduous; segments 6, all equal or the outer ones shorter. Stamens 6, hypogynous; filaments very short, flattened; anthers erect, longer or shorter than the perianth. Ovary superior, sessile, 3-celled; style short, stout; stigmas 3, thick, recurved; ovules solitary or geminate in each cell. Fruit a globose berry, usually 1-seeded by abortion, rarely 2–3-seeded. Seeds globose; testa thin, appressed; embryo small, remote from the hilum.

1. R. scandens, ''Forst. Char. Gen.'' 50.—A tall glabrous climber. Stems slender, knotted at the joints, often forming interwoven masses difficult to penetrate. Leaves opposite or very rarely alternate, petiolate, 3–5 in. long, narrow ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, 3- or 5-nerved, the intermediate veinlets copiously reticulated. Racemes axillary, simple or branched, 3–6 in. long, the upper ones sometimes forming a terminal panicle. Flowers small, greenish, about ⅓ in. diam.; pedicels slender, spreading. Perianth-segments very small, oblong-lanceolate, acute. Stamens 6, much longer than the perianth; filaments short, thick; anthers very large, linear-lanceolate. Ovary ovoid-globose; ovules geminate in each cell; style short, thick; stigma large, obsoletely 3-lobed. Berry globose, ⅓ in. diam., brightred.—''A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. i. 151; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 253; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 281; Benth. in Hook. Ic. Plant.'' t. 1395. E. parviflorum, ''R. Br. Prodr. 293; A. Cunn. Precur.'' n. 305. Similax Ripogonum, ''Forst. Prodr.'' n. 372.