Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
3. Geniostoma, Forst
3. Geniostoma, Forst.
Glabrous shrubs. Leaves opposite, connected by a transverse line or short sheath. Flowers small, in opposite axillary cymes or clusters. Calyx 5-partite; segments acute. Corolla campanulate or almost rotate; lobes 5, spreading, imbricate, usually contorted in the bud. Stamens 5, affixed to the tube or throat of the corolla; filaments short; anthers included or exserted. Ovary 2-celled; style simple; stigma capitate or oblong; ovules numerous in each cell. Capsule globose or oblong, septicidally 2-valved; valves separating from the consolidated placentas and axis. Seeds numerous, small, enveloped by the persistent, placentas.
Species about 20, ranging from Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Malay Archipelago to Australia, the Pacific islands, and New Zealand. The single species found in New Zealand is endemic.
1. | G. ligustrifolium, A. cunn. Precur. n. 401.—A perfectly glabrous much-branched shrub 4–12 ft. high; branches slender, terete. Leaves 1 ½–3 in. long, ovate or elliptic-ovate, acuminate, shortly petiolate, membranous, quite entire, paler beneath, veins conspicuous. Flowers in short axillary corymbs or fascicles, ⅛–⅙ in. diam., greenish-white; pedicels bracteolate. Calyx-lobes ovate, acuminate, ciliolate. Corolla rotate-campanulate; tube short; lobes spreading or reflexed, bearded within. Ovary subglobose; style very short; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ⅕ in. diam., subglobose, mucronate, splitting into 2 boat-shaped valves. Seeds numerous; testa brown, pitted.— Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 430; Raoul, Choix, 44; Hook f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 177; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 189. G. rupestre, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 207 (not of Font.). Var. major, Cheesem.—Leaves larger, 2 ½–5 in. long. Var. Crassum, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxix. (1897) 392.—Leaves smaller and broader, ½–¾ in. long by ⅓–⅔ in. broad, broadly ovate or orbicular-ovate, subacute, rather thick and fleshy when fresh. North Island: Abundant in lowland situations from the North Cape to Cook Strait. South Island: Marlborough, Buchanan. Hangehange. September–November. Var. major: Three Kings Islands, abundant, T. F. C. Var. crassum: Cliffs near the North Cape, rare, T. F. C. |