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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

3. Leucopogon, R. Br

3. Leucopogon, R. Br.

Erect or prostrate shrubs, or rarely small trees. Leaves scattered or imbricate, sessile or petiolate, striate. Flowers small, white or pink, in axibary or terminal spikes or racemes, sometimes solitary, but the rhachis always ending in the rudiment of an additional flower. Bracts few, usually placed close below the calyx. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla-tube funnel-shaped or campanulate, lobes 5, spreading or recurved, usually densely bearded within. Stamens 5, inserted near the top of the corolla-tube; filaments short, filiform; anthers wholly or partly included in the corolla-tube or in the erect base of the lobes. Ovary 2–3–5-celled; style short or long; stigma small; ovules solitary, pendulous from the top of the cell. Fruit a baccate drupe; mesocarp fleshy; endocarp 2–5-celled; cells 1-seeded.

A large Australian genus of more than 120 species, in addition to which there are a few from the Malay Archipelago and the Pacific islands, and three from New Zealand, two of which are also Australian.

A shrub 5–15 ft. Leaves linear-lanceolate. Flowers small, in drooping spikes 1. L. fasciculatus.
A shrub 4–8 ft. Leaves oblanceolate. Flowers small, in crowded erect spikes 2. L. Richei.
Small, 2–8 in. Leaves obovate-oblong, with pungent tips. Flowers large, solitary 3. L. Fraseri.
1.L. fasciculatus, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 215.—A branching shrub or small tree 5–15 ft. high or more; bark black; branches slender, spreading, pubescent at the tips. Leaves very variable in size and shape, flat, spreading, ½–1 in. long, linear or linear-page 414 lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute or acuminate or almost pungent, rarely obtuse, sessile, glabrous, 3–7-nerved; margins minutely denticulate or ciliolate. Flowers minute, greenish-white, in 6–12-flowered axillary or terminal drooping spikes shorter or longer than the leaves. Bracts and calyx-lobes obtuse, striate, margins ciliolate. Corolla-lobes ovate-triangular, acute. Drupe small, ⅛–⅛ in. long, oblong, red.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 408; Raoul, Choix, 44; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 164; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 177. L. brevibarbis, Stch. in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxxii. (1859) i. 14, Epacris fasciculata, Forst. Proclr. n. 72.

North and South Islands: Abundant from the North Cape as far south as Canterbury. Sea-level to 3500 ft. Mingimingi. September–No- vember.

Mr. Buchanan has recorded this in his florula of Otago (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. i.), but I have seen no specimens from thence, and it is not mentioned in either Petrie's or Kirk's lists.

2.L. Richei, R. Br. Prodr. 541.—A slender erect much- branched shrub 4–6 ft. high or more; branches glabrous or slightly puberulous, often fascicled. Leaves ½–1 in. long, linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, narrowed to a sessile base, convex, glaucous beneath, with 3–5 faint nerves; margins re curved. Flowers small, ⅛ in. diam, white, in subterminal short and dense many-flowered spikes. Bracts striate, barely half the length of the calyx. Calyx-lobes oblong, obtuse. Corolla-tube short, not equalling the calyx; lobes linear-oblong, densely bearded within. Drupe broadly ovoid, 3–5-celled.—F. Muell. Veg. Chath. U. 45; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z.'Fl. 735; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 186.

Chatham Islands: Not uncommon in sandy soil near the sea, Travers! Capt. G. Mair! Miss Seddon! Cockayne and Cox!

This is a common plant in extra-tropical Australia and Tasmania, but so far has been found nowhere in the New Zealand area except in the Chatham Islands.

3.L. Fraseri, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 409.—A small shrubby plant 2–6 in. high, rarely more, branching from the base; branches decumbent below, erect or ascending above, often curved, leafy, glabrous or minutely puberulous towards the tips. Leaves erect, close-set, imbricating, ⅕–⅓ in. long, obovate-oblong or linear-oblong, suddenly contracted into a fine rigid pungent point, glabrous and shining above, finely nerved beneath, the nerves branching out wards; margins thin, scarious, cartilaginous, finely ciliolate. Flowers axillary and solitary, sessile, large for the size of the plant, ¼–½ in. long, sweet-scented. Bracts minute, broad, apiculate. Calyx-lobes acute. Corolla-tube cylindrical, more than twice as long as the calyx; lobes short, acute, densely bearded within. Drupe large, ⅓ in. long or more, broadly oblong, yellowish-orange.—Hook. page 415F. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 165; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 178; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 218. L. nesophilus, D.C. Prodr. vii. 752. L. Bellignianus, Raoul, Choix, 18, t. 12.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Abundant in dry heathy places throughout, ascending to 4500 ft. Totara. September–January.

Also in Australia and Tasmania. The drupe is juicy, sweetish, and edible.