Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
Subkingdom I. Phanerogamia
Subkingdom I. Phanerogamia.
Plants bearing true flowers—that is, having stamens and ovules, the latter after fertilisation developing into seeds containing an embryo.
Class I. Dicotyledons.
Stem consisting of a pith in the centre, of bark on the outside, and of interposed woody tissue; when perennial increasing in diameter annually by the addition of a new layer of wood to the outside of the old wood, and of a new layer of bark to the inside of the old bark. Leaves usually with reticulated veins. Parts of the flower generally in fours or fives or eights. Embryo usually with two opposite cotyledons, rarely with several in a whorl.
Subclass I. Angiospermous Dicotyledons.
Ovules enclosed in an ovary, which is always provided with a stigma. Pollen not directly applied to the ovules, but falling upon the stigma, and there emitting pollen-tubes which pass through the tissue of the stigma and so reach the cavity of the ovary and the ovules.
Division I. PolypetalÆ.
Flowers with both calyx and corolla. Petals free.
Exceptions. — Flowers wanting the corolla occur in 1, Ranunculaceæ (Clematis, Myosurus, Caltha); 3, Cruciferæ (some species of Lepidium); 6, Caryo-phylleæ (Colobanthus and a few species of Stellaria); 18, Rhamneæ (three species of Pomaderris and Discaria Toumatou); 19, Sapindaceæ (both the genera found in New Zealand); 23, Bosaceæ (Acæna); 27, Halorageæ (Calli-triche and frequently in Gunnera); 29, Onagraceæ (one species of Fuchsia); 32, Ficoideæ (Tetragonia); 35, Cornaceæ (occasionally in Griselinia).
Petals coherent at the base occur in 7, Portulaceæ (Montia, Hectorella); 10, Malvaceæ; 17, Stackhousieæ; 25, Crassulaceæ (Tillæa); 31, Cucurbitaceæ (Sicyos).
Subdivision. I. Thalamifloreæ. Sepals generally distinct and separate, free from the ovary. Petals hypogynous. Stamens hypogynous, often indefinite. Torus small or elongated, not expanded into a disc. Ovary superior.
Exceptions.—Stamens sometimes slightly perigynous in 6, Caryophylleæ (Colobanthus).
* Ovary apocarpous. Carpels 1 or more.
Subdivision II. Discifloræ. — Sepals distinct or connate, free or rarely adnate to the ovary. Disc usually conspicuous, expanded into a ring or cushion either free or adnate to the ovary or calyx or to both, rarely broken up into separate glands. Stamens usually definite, inserted upon the disc or at its outer or inner base. Ovary superior.
Exceptions.—Disc reduced to minute glands in 12, Lineæ; and 13, Gerani-aceæ; altogether wanting in 21, Coriarieæ.
Subdivision III. Calycifioræ. Sepals usually more or less-connate, very rarely distinct, often adnate to the ovary. Petals and stamens inserted on the inside of the calyx-tube, or on the top of an epigynous disc when the calyx is adnate to the ovary. Ovary superior or inferior.
Exceptions.—Calyx and corolla both wanting in one genus of 27, Halorageæ (Callitriche). Petals connate at the base in 25, Crassulaceæ (Tillæa). Stamens hypogynous in 26, Droseraceæ.
* Ovary superior (except in some Rosaceæ and Saxifrageæ). Stamens perigynous.
Division II. GamopetalÆ.
Flowers with both calyx and corolla. Petals more or less connate into a lobed corolla.
Exceptions.—Corolla absent in the New Zealand species of 47, Oleaceæ. Petals free or nearly so in some species of 45, Myrsineæ.
Subdivision I. Epigynæ. Ovary inferior.
* Stamens epipetalous.
Division III. IncompletÆ.
Flowers with a single floral envelope (the calyx), or both calyx and corolla wanting.
* Flowers usually hermaphrodite. Perianth regular. Ovary superior, syncarpous, 1 - celled; ovule generally solitary. Embryo coiled or curved; albumen farinaceous.
Subclass II. GymnospermÆ.
Ovules naked, not enclosed in an ovary; style and stigma wanting. Pollen coming into direct contact with the ovules.
- LXXVIII. Coniferæ. Flowers unisexual. Perianth always wanting. Males catkin-like, reduced to stamens only. Females of one or more naked ovules sessile on a scale or bract; scales few or many, in the latter case often forming cones or heads.—Trees or shrubs; leaves undivided, acicular or scale-like, rarely flattened. (p. 644.)
Class II. Monocotyledons.
Stem consisting of a cellular axis traversed longitudinally by scattered closed vascular bundles, with no defined central pith or separable bark. Leaves usually with parallel veins. Parts of the flower generally in threes or fours, never in fives. Embryo with a single terminal cotyledon.
Series I. Epigynæ. Perianth conspicuous, biseriate, usually coloured. Ovary inferior, syncarpous, 3-celled.