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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
2. Hoheria, A. Cunn
2. Hoheria, A. Cunn.
A shrub or small tree. Leaves petiolate, alternate, serrate. Flowers numerous, in axillary fascicles, white; peduncles jointed at the middle. Bracteoles wanting. Calyx hemispherical, 5-toothed. Petals oblique, notched near the apex. Staminal column split at the top into numerous filaments, usually arranged in 5 bundles. Ovary 5-celled, rarely more; ovules 1 in each cell; style-branches as many as the cells, filiform; stigmas capitate. Fruiting carpels 5, placed round a central axis from which they fall away when ripe, indehiscent, furnished with a broad membranous wing at the back. Seed pendulous.
A genus confined to New Zealand. It is doubtful whether it should be regarded as composed of one highly variable species or of 3 or 4 closely allied ones.
| 1. | H. populnea, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 600.—A small handsome tree 10–30 ft. high, glabrous except the young shoots, peduncles, and calyces, which are usually more or less pubescent; bark tough. Leaves extremely variable, especially in young plants, ranging from page 79ovate, ovate-oblong, or ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate or even linear, generally sharply and coarsely dentate or serrate, more rarely obtusely serrate; in young plants often deeply and irregularly lobed or toothed; petioles slender. Flowers in axillary fascicles, snow-white, usually produced in great profusion. Peduncles jointed, pubescent. Carpels produced outwards and upwards into a membranous wing, longer than broad.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 30; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 31; Kirk, Students' Fl. 71.
Can be most conveniently divided into the following 3 varieties, which possibly should have the rank of species:— Var. a, vulgaris, Hook. f. l.c.—Leaves coriaceous, ovate, with large sharp teeth; blade 3–5 in. long; petioles 1–2 in. Leaves of young plants differing in size only. Fascicles 5–10-flowered. Flowers ½–¾ in. diam.—Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 565, 566; Kirk, forest Fl. t. 53. (H. Sinclairii, Hook. f. Handb. 31, appears to be a form of this with broader more coriaceous obtusely serrate leaves and 2–3-flowered fascicles.) North Island: North Cape to the Waikato River, abundant. March–May. Var. b, lanceolata, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 30.—Leaves of mature trees coriaceous, ovate-lanceolate oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, sharply toothed, 2–4 in. long; of young plants smaller, thinner, ovate or rounded-ovate, deeply and irregularly lobed and cut. Flowers smaller and fewer.—Kirk, Forest Fl. tt. 54 f. 2, 54A f. 1, 2, 55 f. A. H. sexstylosa, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 238. (Var. cratœgifolia, Hook, f., is based upon the leaves of young trees.) North and South Islands: Bay of Islands to Canterbury, but local north of the Waikato River. February–April. Var. c, angustifolia, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 30.—Leaves of mature trees smaller, 1–2 in., rarely 1–3 in., membranous, oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, spinulose-toothed. Flowers smaller; fascicles 2–4-flowered. Leaves of young plants small, suborbicular or obovate-orbicular, 3–5-toothed at the tip, cuneate at the base.—Kirk, Forest Fl. tt. 54 f. 1, 54A f. 3, 54B f. 2, 55 f. 1, 2. H. angustifolia, Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 48, t. 26. Mr. Kirk's subspecies obtusifolia connects this with the previous variety. North and South Islands: Hawke's Bay to Southland, not uncommon, ascending to 1500 ft. December–February. An excellent account of the remarkable tendency to variation exhibited by this almost protean species will be found in Kirk's "Forest Flora." The Maoris apply the names hoihere or houhere to varieties a and b indifferently; the European settlers usually call all the forms "ribbon-wood" or "lacebark," names which are, unfortunately, also used for Plagianthus betulinus and Gaya Lyallii. |