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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

[Introduction to Order V. Pittosporeæ.]

Trees or shrubs, rarely climbers. Leaves alternate or whorled, simple, seldom toothed or lobed, exstipulate. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or more rarely unisexual, terminal or axillary. Sepals 5, free or connate at the base, imbricate. Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricate, often cohering at the base, limb spreading or recurved. Stamens 5, hypogynous, free; anthers versatile. Ovary normally 1-celled, with 2–5 parietal placentas, but often more or less completely 2–5-celled from the intrusion of the placentas; style simple; ovules usually numerous on each placenta. Fruit capsular or succulent and indehiscent. Seeds generally numerous; albumen copious; embryo minute, with the radicle next the hilum.

Genera 9; species about 120. The order is confined to Australia, with the exception of Pittosporum itself, which has a wide distribution in the warm regions of the Old World. Many of the species are more or less resinous and aromatic.