Discaria
(from diskos, a disk; the disk being large and fleshy). SYN. Tetrapasma. ORD. Rhamneae. An interesting genus of about thirteen species of spiny shrubs. One is a native of Australia, another of New Zealand; all the rest are extra-tropical South American. They are closely allied to Colletia (which see for culture).
D. australis (Southern). fl. yellow; racemes short, many-flowered, rising from beneath the spines. May. l. few, opposite, obovate, minute, quite entire, pubescent. Branches almost leafless, pubescent; branchlets simple, spiny. h. 2ft. Australia, 1824. A greenhouse evergreen. SYN. Tetrapasma juncea. D. serratifolia (saw-leaved).* fl. greenish - white, in axillary tufts, very fragrant. June. l. opposite, shining, bright green. h. 6ft. to 10ft. Branches green, like those of a broom, spiny. A capital subject for pot culture, or as a plant for a conservatory wall. (G. C. n. s., vi. 324.) SYN. Colletia serratifolia.
D. Toumatou (Toumatou). Wild Irishman. fl. white, 1/8in. in diameter, apetalous; pedicels and calyx minutely downy; calyx tube short, obscure; lobes four or five, broadly ovate; disk broad, with a narrow upturned edge. June. l. small, fascicled, in the axils of the spines, absent in old plants, 1inear or obovate-oblong, obtuse or retuse, smooth or pubescent, quite entire or serrate. h. 15ft., in sub-alpine localities. New Zealand, 1875. Greenhouse.