Flora of New Zealand Series

Tree up to c. 15 m. tall; trunk up to c. 1 m. diam.; branches rather slender; branchlets with pale bark. Lvs on petioles up to ± 10 mm. long. Lamina coriac., smooth, somewhat glossy above; of juveniles linear, acuminate; of adults narrow- to ovate-lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, acute to subacuminate; midrib ± impressed above, somewhat prominent below. Racemes 5-10-(14)-fld, c. 1-2 cm. long; axis and pedicels glab. or very nearly so. ♂ with 2-(4) exserted anthers > 2 mm. long; ♀ with large 2-lobed stigma and more deeply lobed calyx. Drupe ± oblong-ovoid, 10-12 mm. long; seeds us. 2 per locule.

DIST.: N., S. Lowland to lower montane forests from near North Cape to lat. 41º 30'; local in S. Maire, White maire.

FL. 11-1. FT. 12-2.

Hooker (loc. cit. 176) describes two vars: " Var. α (foliis ovato-lanceolatis 3 uncialibus. Var. ß; foliis anguste lineari-ellipticis 2 unicialibus." The distinction between the forms is not at all clear-cut. Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 38) record as apparently not uncommon hybrid forms of the origin O. cunninghamii × lanceolata.