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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

6. Weinmannia, Linn

6. Weinmannia, Linn.

Shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite, petiolate, simple or 3-foliolate or imparipinnate, stipulate. Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes. Calyx inferior, divided almost to the base into 4–5 imbricate segments. Petals 4–5, inserted under the margin of a perigynous disc. Stamens 8–10, inserted with the petals. Ovary free, ovoid or conic, 2-celled, 2-beaked; styles 2, subulate; ovules few or many in each cell, pendulous. Capsule small, coriaceous, 2-celled, septicidally 2-valved. Seeds oblong or reniform or subglobose, often hairy; embryo terete; albumen fleshy.

A rather large genus of over 50 species, distributed through the Malay Archipelago, Madagascar and the Mauritius, tropical South America, Polynesia, and Australia. The two New Zealand species are both endemic.

Branchlets usually pubescent. Leaves of mature trees 3-foliolate or pinnate 1. W. sylvicola.

Branchlets usually glabrous. Leaves of mature trees 1-foliolate 2. W. racemosa.

1.

W. sylvicola, Sol. ex A. Cunn. Precur. n. 518.—An erect tree, usually from 25 to 50 ft. high, sometimes taller and reaching 60–70 ft.; trunk 1–3 ft. diam.; branchlets, petioles, and midribs of the leaves and inflorescence more or less pubescent or almost glabrous. Leaves 3-foliolate or imparipinnate, rarely 1-foliolate; leaflets 1 to 4 or 5 pairs or more, 1–2 in. long, obovate-oblong or ovate-oblong to lanceolate, narrowed below, acute or acuminate, coarsely serrate. Leaves of young trees pinnate, with numerous membranous leaflets; of old ones usually 3-foliolate, coriaceous. Stipules leafy, entire or toothed. Racemes 1–4 in. long, often numerous towards the ends of the branches, sometimes branched. Flowers very numerous, small, 1/12 in. diam., white or pale-rose. Capsule usually glabrous, ⅕–⅙ in. long. Seeds minute, with a tuft of hairs at each end.—Raoul, Choix, 47; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 79; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 60; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 72; Students' Fl. 140. W. betulina and W. fuchsioides, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 516, 517.

page 139

North Island: Abundant in forests as far south as the East Cape and Taupo, ascending to 3000 ft. Tawhero. December–April.

An exceedingly variable plant. The bark is largely used for tanning.

2.

W. racemosa, Linn. f. Suppl. 227.—A taller tree than W. sylvicola, frequently from 50–80 ft. high or more, with a trunk 1–4 ft. diam.; glabrous when mature, except the raceme, which is pubescent. Leaves of young plants pinnately 3–5-foliolate, thin and membranous, often pubescent; of mature plants 1-foliolate, 1–4 in. long, oblong-lanceolate or oblong-ovate to orbicular-ovate, obtuse or subacute, coarsely and obtusely serrate, very coriaceous, quite glabrous. Racemes 1–4 in. long, axillary and terminal, sometimes branched; rachis pubescent; pedicels stout. Flowers numerous, very similar to those of W. sylvicola but rather larger. Ovary pubescent. Capsule ⅕ in. long, 2–3-valved. Seeds hairy.—Forst. Prodr. n. 173; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 321; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 80; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 61; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 73; Students' Fl. 140. Leiospermum racemosum, Don. in Edinb. N. Phil. Journ. 1830, 91; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 519.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Plentiful in forests from the Thames Goldfields and middle Waikato southwards. Sea-level to 3000 ft. Towai; Kamahi. December–January.

Very closely allied to W. sylvicola, but can generally be separated by the larger 1-foliolate leaves of the mature stage.