Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Caprifoliaceæ
Order XXXVI. CAPRIFOLIACEÆ.
Erect or climbing shrubs or small trees, rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, seldom alternate, simple or rarely pinnate, usually exstipulate. Flowers hermaphrodite, regular or irregular. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; limb 3–5-toothed or -lobed. Corolla gamopetalous, epigynous, rotate or funnel-shaped or tubular; limb often irregular or 2-lipped; lobes 4–5, imbricate, rarely valvate. Stamens 4–5, inserted on the tube of the corolla and alternating with its lobes, equal or unequal. Ovary inferior, 2–5-celled (rarely 1-celled), usually crowned with an epigynous disc; style long with a capitate stigma, or short and 2–5-lobed; ovules 1 or more in each cell, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit usually a berry or drupe, rarely a capsule, 1- or many-seeded. Seeds with copious albumen; embryo usually minute, radicle superior.
A small order, comprising 14 genera and about 200 species, mostly natives of the Northern Hemisphere, with few tropical or southern representatives. The order is of little economical importance, but many of the species are cultivated in gardens for the beauty or fragrance of their flowers, as the various kinds of honeysuckles and woodbines, &c. The single New Zealand genus is endemic.
1. ALSEUOSMIA, A. Cunn.
Evergreen shrubs, usually of small size; branchlets slender. Leaves alternate, petioled, entire or toothed, very variable in shape, coriaceous or almost membranous; stipules wanting. Flowers axillary, solitary or fascicled, very sweet-scented; pedicels bracteolate at the base. Calyx-tube ovoid; limb deeply 4–5-lobed, deciduous. Corolla tubular or funnel-shaped; tube long, equal at the base; limb of 4–5 spreading lobes; margin of lobes inflexed, toothed or lobulate. Stamens 4–5, inserted near the mouth of the corolla; filaments short; anthers oblong. Ovary 2-celled; style filiform; stigma clavate; ovules numerous in each cell, in a double row on axile placentas. Berry ovoid or oblong, 2-celled, crimson. Seeds several in each cell, angular; testa bony.
A small genus of four species, confined to New Zealand, and differing from the rest of the order in the alternate leaves. The species are exceedingly variable and difficult of discrimination.
| Leaves large, 3–7 in. Flowers 1–1½ in. long, usually 5-merous | 1. A. macrophylla. |
| Leaves 1–4 in., ovate-oblong to linear-oblong. Flowers ½–¾ in., usually 4-merous | 2. A. quercifolia. |
| Leaves ½–2 in., orbicular to obovate-oblong. Flowers ⅓–½ in. | 3. A. Banksii. |
| Leaves ½–3 in., narrow-linear to lanceolate. Flowers ½–⅔ in. | 4. A. linariifolia. |
1. A. macrophylla, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 494.—A perfectly glabrous much-branched shrub 4–8 ft. high. Leaves 3–7 in. long, obovate or obovate-lanceolate to linear-oblong, obtuse or subacute, narrowed into a short stout petiole, remotely sinuate-dentate or nearly entire, rather coriaceous. Flowers solitary or in fascicles of 2–4, large, 1–1½ in. long, bright-crimson. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, acute. Corolla-lobes 5, rarely 4, margins fimbriate or toothed. Berry oblong, crimson, ⅓–½ in. long.—Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 102, t. 23; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 109; Kirk, Students' Fl. 227.
North Island: Abundant in woods from the North Cape to the East Cape, rare and local further south. South Island: Apparently very rare. Marlborough, J. Rutland! Collingwood, Dall! Kelly's Creek, Westland, Cockayne! Sea-level to 3200 ft. September–November.
A very beautiful and exceedingly fragrant plant, well worthy of general cultivation. It is easily distinguished from all the other species by the large flowers.
2. A. quercifolia, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 493.—A small slender sparingly branched shrub 1–5 ft. high. Leaves excessively variable in size and shape, 1–5 in. long, ovate-oblong, elliptic-oblong, obovate-lanceolate, or linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, narrowed into a short slender petiole, entire or sinuate-dentate or deeply sinuate-lobed, almost membranous, sometimes glaucous below. Flowers solitary or in fascicles of 2–5, ½–¾ in. long, very slender. Calyx-lobes triangular, acute. Corolla with a crimson tube and 4–5 greenish or reddish-green acute lobes. Berry ⅓–½ in. diam., broadly oblong, red.—Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 102; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 109; Kirk, Students' Fl. 227. A. ilex, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 492. A. pusilla, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 241.
North Island: From Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards, but often local. South Island: Marlborough—Rai Valley, Rutland; Pelorus Sound, MacMahon; Mount Stokes, Kirk. Sea-level to 2500 ft. September–November.
A very variable plant, which in some of its forms comes very near to both A. Banksii and A. linariifolia. Mr. Colenso's A. pusilla only differs in its rather smaller size.
3. A. Banksii, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 489.—A small slender shrub 1–4 ft. high; branches spreading, younger ones pubescent. Leaves ½–2 in. long, very variable in shape, broadly ovate or orbicular to obovate-oblong or obcuneate, narrowed into a rather long petiole, entire or coarsely toothed or lobed, especially towards the upper part of the leaf. Flowers solitary or 2–3 together, ⅓–½ in. long, greenish-yellow, rarely reddish. Berry ⅓ in. diam., globose; seeds few, 4–8.—Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 102, t. 24; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 110; Kirk, Students' Fl. 227. A. atriplicifolia and A. palæiformis, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 491, 490.
North Island: From Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards to the Auckland Isthmus, but often rare and local. September–November.
4. A. linariifolia, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 487.—An erect much-branched shrub 1–4 ft. high, with slender pubescent branches. Leaves numerous, crowded, ½–3 in. long, 116–12 in. wide, linear to linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute or subacute, gradually narrowed into a short petiole, quite entire or sinuate-toothed or lobed, rather membranous. Flowers solitary or in fascicles of 2–5, ½–⅔ in. long, greenish-yellow, rarely reddish. Corolla-lobes 4, toothed and fimbriate. Berry broadly ovoid or turbinate; seeds few.—Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 103, t. 25; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 110; Kirk, Students' Fl. 227. A. ligustrifolia, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 488. A. Hookeria, Col. Excur. North Is. 84.
North Island: From Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards to the Manukau Harbour, not uncommon. September–November.
A very variable plant. Small forms, with narrow-linear leaves, have much of the habit and appearance of Pittosporum reflexum; larger states (A. ligustrifolia, A. Cunn.), with lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate leaves, approach A. quercifolia very closely.