Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

1. Pisonia, Linn

1. Pisonia, Linn.

Trees or shrubs, usually unarmed, rarely spinous. Leaves opposite or scattered. Flowers unisexual or hermaphrodite, small, 2–3-bracteolate at the base, usually arranged in lax or dense cymose panicles. Perianth of the male flowers funnel-shaped or almost campanulate, of the females tubular, sometimes swollen at the base; limb 5-toothed; teeth short, induplicate-valvate, erect or patent. Stamens 6–10; filaments unequal, connate at the base into a tube or ring; anthers oblong or didymous, exserted or included. Ovary elongated, narrowed into a slender included or exserted style; stigma obliquely capitate or dilated, often fimbriate. Fruiting perianth elongated or oblong, 5-ribbed or cylindrical, smooth or glandular-muricate, usually viscid, firmly enclosing the membranous utricle. Seed solitary, oblong, longitudinally grooved; embryo straight, the cotyledons convolute, enclosing the scanty albumen.

A large genus in tropical and subtropical America, with a few species in southern Asia, Australia, Polynesia, and the Mascarene Islands. The New Zealand species occurs in Norfolk Island and Australia, and may possibly have a wider range.