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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

1. Corokia, A. Cunn

1. Corokia, A. Cunn.

Evergreen shrubs; branches straight or tortuous; bark black. Leaves alternate or fascicled, petiolate, entire. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, yellow, in axillary or terminal panicles, racemes, or fascicles. Calyx-tube turbinate; limb 5-lobed, valvate. Petals 5, valvate, furnished with a small scale at the base, silky outside. Stamens 5. Ovary 1–2-celled; style short; stigma almost capitate, 2-lobed. Drupe ovoid or broadly oblong, crowned by the persistent calvx-limb, 1–2-celled; seeds 1 in each cell.

A small genus of 3 species, confined to the New Zealand area.
Leaves lanceolate. Flowers in terminal panicles 1. C. buddleoides.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in axillary racemes 2. C. macrocarpa.
Leaves orbicular or obovate, narrowed into short flat petioles. Flowers in few-flowered fascicles or solitary 3. C. Cotoneaster.
1.C. buddleoides, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 579.—An erect much-branched slender shrub 6–12 ft. high; young branchlets, undersurface of leaves, and inflorescence densely clothed with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, shortly petioled, 3–6 in. long, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green and shining above; veins reticulated. Panicles terminal, leafy at the base. Flowers ¼–⅓ in. diam., yellow. Petals oblong-lanceolate. Drupe oblong, ¼ in. long, dark-red.—Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 424; Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.

North Island: Not uncommon in woods from the North Cape as far south as the East Cape. Sea-level to 3000 ft. Korokia-taranga. November–December.

2.C. macrocarpa, T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.—An erect shrub 15–20 ft. high; branches stout, spreading; branchlets, leaves beneath, and branches of the inflorescence densely covered with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, 2–4 in. long, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, acute or apiculate, rarely obtuse, coriaceous, gradually narrowed into rather short petioles. Flowers ⅓ in. diam., yellow, in axillary racemes shorter than the leaves; page 238pedicels short. Petals lanceolate, acute. Drupe ⅓ in. long, broadly oblong, dark-red.—C. buddleoides var. b, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is. 16.

Chatham Islands: Dieffenbach, H. H. Travers! Captain G. Mair! Cox! Whakataka; Hokotaka.

Closely allied to C. buddleoides, but amply distinct in the broader leaves, axillary racemose flowers, and larger fruit.

3.C. Cotoneaster, Raoul, Choix, 22, t. 20.—A rigid densely branched shrub 4–8 ft. high; branches tortuous and interlaced; bark black; branchlets, under-surface of leaves, and inflorescence clothed with appressed silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate or in alternate fascicles, ⅓–1 in. long; blade orbicular to obovate or oblong-ovate, obtuse or emarginate, coriaceous, shining above, suddenly narrowed into a broad flat petiole. Flowers small, axillary and terminal, solitary or 2–4 together; pedicels short, bracteoiate. Petals narrow linear-oblong, acute. Drupe globose, ¼ in. diam., red.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.

North and South Islands: Not uncommon from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 2500 ft. November–January.

What may prove to be a fourth species of Corokia has been collected by myself at Spirits Bay, in the North Cape district. It is a twiggy bush 6–12 ft. high, with slender branches, not tortuous. Leaves alternate, ½–1½ in. long, narrow linear-obovate or oblanceolate, narrowed into very short petioles. Flowers and fruit not seen.