Trochocarpa
(from trochos, a wheel, and karpos, fruit; alluding to the radiated arrangement of the cells of the fruit). SYN. Decaspora. ORD. Epacrideae. A genus including half-a-dozen species of greenhouse, erect or diffuse shrubs or small trees, limited to Australia. Flowers spicate, each sessile within the small, subtending bract and two bracteoles; calyx five-parted; corolla tube cylindrical or campanulate, glabrous or with reflexed hairs inside at the top; lobes recurved, usually shorter than the tube; filaments short, filiform. Fruit a globular or depressed drupe, containing ten stones (or fewer by abortion). Leaves usually petiolate, flat or convex. T. laurina, the only species yet introduced, is a handsome tree, thriving in sand and fibry peat. Cuttings of the points of young shoots, or stubby, short side shoots getting firm at the base, should be inserted in sand, under a bell glass, and kept close in a frame or pit, at any time during spring or summer. More heat and moisture must be allowed after the flowering period, and an abundance of air and light before the end of the autumn. T. laurina (Laurel-like). fl. white, small, in terminal, solitary or clustered, interrupted spikes, 3/4in. to 1in. long. June. l. usually clustered at the end of each year's shoots, so as to appear almost whorled, petiolate, broadly oval or elliptic, acuminate, shining, five to seven-nerved on both sides, mostly 1 1/2in. to 2in. long. h. 20ft. to 40ft. 1829. (B. M. 3324.)