# Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Santalaceæ

Order LXXIII. SANTALACEÆ.
Trees or shrubs or herbs, often parasitic on the roots of other plants. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple and entire, sometimes reduced to minute scales or altogether wanting; stipules absent. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually small and greenish, solitary or in axillary or terminal cymes or spikes. Perianth superior or inferior, 3–6-lobed or -partite; lobes valvate,. often hairy behind the anthers. Stamens 3–6, inserted on the perianth-lobes and opposite to them; anthers 2-celled. Ovary inferior, rarely superior, 1-celled; style short; stigma capitate or 3–4-lobed; ovules 2–3, pendulous from a central column. Fruit an indehiscent nut or drupe. Seed solitary, globose or ovoid; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo usually small, terete, radicle superior.
An order of moderate size, widely dispersed in both temperate and tropical regious. Genera 28; species not much exceeding 200. The only species of much economic value is Santalum album, which yields the well-known sandalwood. Both the New Zealand genera are found in Australia, and Exocarpus extends also to the Pacific islands, Malay Archipelago, and Madagascar.
| Leafy. Perianth superior. Flowers in axillary cymes | 1. Fusanus. |
| Leafless. Perianth inferior. Flowers in axillary spikes | 2. Exocarpus. |
1. FUSANUS, R. Br.
Glabrous trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual by abortion, in axillary or terminal racemes or fascicles. Perianth-tube turbinate, adnate to the ovary and produced above it into a projecting rim; segments 4–6, each furnished with a tuft of hairs at the base. Stamens 4–6, affixed to the base of the perianth-segments and shorter than them; anthers ovate, dehiscing longitudinally. Disc lining the projecting ​part of the perianth-tube. Ovary inferior; style short, conic; stigma small, 2–4-lobed; ovules 2–4. Fruit a globose or turbinate drupe crowned at the summit by the annular scar of the perianthsegments; exocarp more or less fleshy; endocarp hard, often rugose. Embryo linear, in the centre of the albumen.
A small genus of 5 species, all Australian except the one found in New Zealand.
1. F. Cunninghamii, Benth. and Hook. f. ex T. Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 75, 76.—A small slender tree 10–25 ft. high; trunk seldom more than 9 in. diam.; bark grey. Leaves alternate or more rarely opposite, extremely variable in shape, 2–5 in. long, ⅕–1 in. broad, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong or obovate, acute or acuminate, narrowed into short petioles, quite entire, dark-green and glossy, veined, minutely punctate. Inflorescence axillary, of few- or many-flowered racemes or cymes, rarely reduced to few-flowered fascicles. Flowers small, ⅙–¼ in. diam., brownish-green, hermaphrodite or unisexual by abortion, the females the smallest. Perianth-tube hemispherical; segments 4–6, triangular, deciduous, each with a tuft of yellowish hairs at the base. Stamens the same number as the perianth-segments; filaments short, slender. Disc 4–6-lobed. Stigma 2–4-lobed. Drupe ⅓–½ in. long, narrow-turbinate, bright-red, crowned with the annular scar of the perianth -segments.—Santalum Cunninghamii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 223; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 247. S. Mida, Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 563, 575; Raoul, Choix, 42. Mida salicifolia, M. eucalyptoides, and M. myrtifolia, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 340, 341, 342.
North Island: Lowland forests from the North Cape to Cook Strait, but local to the south of Rotorua. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Maire; New Zealand Sandal-wood. September–October.
This differs from the Australian species of the genus in the alternate leaves, axillary inflorescence, and turbinate fruit. Cunningham constituted a separate genus for it under the name of Mida, and divided it into 3 species based upon the greater or lesser breadth of the leaves. But as leaves of all intermediate shapes can easily be found, and sometimes occur on the same branch, it is impossible to separate his species even as varieties. The wood is hard and dense, very strong and durable, and is occasionally used for ornamental turnery, inlaying, &c.
{{c|2. EXOCARPUS, Labill.
Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, often reduced to minute scales. Flowers minute, hermaphrodite or unisexual by abortion, in small axillary spikes or fascicles, each flower sessile or nearly so in a notch of the rhachis or axillary to a minute scale-like bract. Perianth inferior, divided to the base into 4–6 valvate segments. Stamens the same number as the perianth-segments and inserted near their base; filaments very short and broad; ​anthers adnate, 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Disc flat, thick, sinuately 4–6-lobed. Ovary superior, fleshy, conic; stigma small, sessile, entire or obscurely lobed. Fruit a nut or drupe seated on the enlarged and often succulent and coloured pedicel. Seed erect; testa thin; albumen copious; embryo minute, cylindric.
Species 16, 9 of which are found in Australia, one of them extending to the Malay Archipelago. The remaining 7 are found in Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, New Zealand, the Sandwich Islands, and Madagascar.
1. E. Bidwillii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 223, t. 52.—A small much-branched rigid procumbent shrub 6–24 in. high; branches ascending, short, stiff, terete, deeply furrowed. Leaves reduced to minute triangular scales, alternate, persistent. Flowers minute, arranged in short and stout 4–10-flowered spikes springing from the axils of the scale-like leaves; rhachis pubescent, excavated at the insertion of each flower; bract minute. Perianth-segments usually 5, but sometimes 4 or 6. Stamens the same number; filaments short. Nut oblong, black, about ⅕ in. long, peduncle much enlarged and thickened, often red and succulent, the perianth-segments persistent under the fruit.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 246.
South Island: Not uncommon in the mountains of Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, and northern Otago. 1000–4000 ft. December–February.