Herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate or radical, rarely opposite; stipules wanting. Flowers hermaphrodite, irregular or rarely-regular, axillary or terminal, solitary or in spikes or racemes or panicles. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, limb of 5 persistent lobes or obsolete. Corolla gamopetalous, usually irregular. 5-lobed, often split to the base at the back. Stamens 5, alternate with the lobes of the corolla and inserted at its base; anthers free or rarely connate into a ring surrounding the style. Ovary inferior or nearly so, 1–2-celled; style simple, with a cup-shaped or 2-lipped expansion which encloses the stigma, and is called the indusium; ovules 1 or 2 or more in each cell, erect or ascending. Fruit an indehiscent drupe or nut or a 2–4-valved capsule. Seeds albuminous; embryo axile, radicle next the hilum.

An order containing 12 genera and about 200 species, nearly the whole of which are confined to Australia, a few species of Sccevola extending to the Pacific islands and the coasts of tropical Asia and Africa, and one species of Selliera to South America. The order has no important properties.

Creeping fleshy herb. Leaves linear - spathulate, entire. Berry many-seeded.	1. Selliera.
The New Zealand species a diffuse or procumbent under-shrub. Drupe 2-celled, with one seed in each cell	2. Scibvola.

1. Selliera, Cav.

Small glabrous creeping and rooting perennial herbs. Leaves alternate or fascicled at the nodes, entire. Flowers axillary, sessile or pedunculate. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; limb 5-lobed or -partite. Corolla oblique, split to the base at the back; limb of 5 nearly equal lobes, at length digitately spreading; the margins inflexed or winged. Stamens 5, epigynous; anthers free. Ovary inferior, more or less completely 2-celled; ovules numerous in each cell. Style undivided; stigma short, truncate, enclosed within the cup-shaped indusium. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent. Seeds usually numerous, compressed or irregularly shaped.

A small genus of two species, one of which is confined to Western Australia; the other occurs in Australia, Tasmania, and Chili, as well as in New Zealand.

2. Scævola, Linn.

Herbs, undershrubs, or shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, entire or toothed. Flowers axillary, solitary or in small cymes. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; limb short, 5-partite or cupular, sometimes obsolete. Corolla oblique, split to the base at the back; lobes 5, nearly equal, at length digitately spreading. Stamens 5; anthers free. Ovary inferior or the summit free,. 2-celled; ovules solitary in each cell, erect. Style undivided; stigma truncate or 2-lobed, enclosed in the cup-shaped indusium. Fruit indehiscent, exocarp succulent or thin and membranous, endocarp woody or bony or rarely crustaceous. Seeds solitary in each cell.

A large genus of 60 or 70 species, over 50 of which are confined to Australia. The remainder are scattered through the Pacific islands and along the coasts of tropical Asia, one extending to tropical Africa and the West Indies. The single species found in New Zealand is endemic.