Volume I (1961) - Flora of New Zealand Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons
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Epacridaceae

EPACRIDACEAE

Fls small, mostly perfect, regular, bracted, 4-5-merous, solitary or in spikes or racemes, occ. panicled. Calyx persistent; corolla hypog., lobes imbricate or valvate. Stamens epipetalous or hypog., alt. with corolla-lobes, sts with tufts of hairs or glands between. Anthers 1-celled, dehiscing lengthwise. Ovary often subtended by a glandular disk, style simple Fr. a capsule or drupe with us. axile placentae; seeds with straight embryo, endosperm fleshy. Shrubs or small trees with us. alt., exstipulate, simple lvs. Some 30 genera and 400 spp. of Australia, Tasmania, N.Z., with a few outliers.

Key

1.
Fr. drupelike, with fleshy mesocarp, ovules solitary in each locule or in separate pyrenes
2
Fr. capsular; ovules several per locule
3
2.
Fr. with separate pyrenes, us. 5
Fr. 5-locuded, with bony endocarp
3.
Lvs with sheathing bases
Lvs petiolate to sessile, without sheathing bases
4
4.
Sepals united only at very base; bracts few, not enveloping calyx, caducous; branches stout
Sepals united to c. midway; bracts many, ± enveloping calyx, long-persistent; branches slender

For the N.Z. spp. I have been unable to find any important clear-cut differences between those assigned by Cheeseman to Cyathodes and those to Leucopogon. The characters depended upon to separate the two genera are indicated in the following key:

Cyathodes: Pedicels with many ± persistent bracts; corolla glab. on upper surface or nearly so. Leucopogon : Pedicels with few caducous bracts; corolla distinctly bearded on upper surface. But several spp. do not fit at all well into this scheme.

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