168 SIGNOR T. CARUEL ON COMBRETUM BUTYROSUM. 
not belong.to any of the known orders of plants, but ought pro- 
bably to constitute a new order of Shee, in the neighbourhood of 
Myrtaceae. 
. Owing to the liberality of the learned Professor, who sent 
specimens of the plant, both in flower and fruit, to the Central 
Herbarium in Florence, I have been able to examine it more 
closely, and the result of my inspection has been to confirm a 
suspicion that had arisen in my mind, at first sight of the plant, 
that it was a Combretacea. In fact, I consider it as a true Com- 
bretum, from which it differs in no respect but in having an 
apterous fruit—a character by no means sufficient, I should think, 
to constitute it as a distinct genus, much more so as we see in 
the same order another genus (Terminalia) with winged or wing- 
less fruits. The blossoms and the general habit are entirely those 
of a Combretum. The following description of the plant (which I 
shall call Combretum butyrosum) will, I hope, satisfy my readers 
as to the accuracy of the view I have taken of the subject. 
CoMBRETUM BUTYROSUM, Car. MSS. (Sheadendron butyrosum, Bert. ! 
Illustr. di Pianti Mozambicesi, dissert. 1*, p. 12, f. 4, where the analyses 
of the flower are partly incorrect, the ovules of the inferior ovary 
being taken for a free ovary, &c.; Walp. Ann. Bot. Syst. iii. 861).— 
Arbor. Rami tenues, incurvi, teretes, juniores pube rufa adpressa 
villosi, dein glabrati cortice tenui griseo facile scindibili. Folia oppo- 
sita, exstipulata, brevissime petiolata, petiolo villoso, elliptica, inte- 
gerrima, margine tantulum recurvato, basi subcordata, apice cuspide 
brevi apiculata, reticulato-nervosa, nervis subtus prominentibus, 4—1 
decim. longa, dura, supra levia glabra, subtus pallidiora glandulisque 
exiguis crebre punctata. Spice (ut videtur indeterminate) multi- 
flore, densz, breves, pedunculo brevi vel longiusculo stipitatze, paucæ 
(ad summum 5) opposite vel alternz in ramulis ex axilla foliorum 
ortis, queecunque basi suffulta bractea lanceolata caduca. Flores 
erecto-patentes, sessiles, bracteola filiformi breviuscula comitati. 
Calyx obconicus, 8"? longus, tubo brevissimo, cum ovario connato, 
villoso, limbo glabrescente, glanduloso, fauce parum ampliata, 4-den- 
tata, dentibus brevibus, triangulis, barbatis, prefloratione valvatis. 
Petala 4, parva (13™™ longa), ad summam faucem inserta, cum den- 
tibus calycinis alternantia, cuneata, truncata, apice eroso-dentata. 
Stamina 8, 4 cum petalis alternantia supra medium limbi calycini 
inserta, breviter exserta, 4 autem petalis opposita sub ore inserta, 
longe exserta. Filamenta filiformia, apice subulata, glabra, staminum 
omnium zquilonga, ante anthesin incurvata. Ап еге рагуге, ovales, 
medio dorsi insertz, utrinque emarginatz, introrse, longitudinaliter 
dehiscentes, deciduæ, in sicco ochroleucee. Pollen (in aqua) globosum, 
poris ut videtur tribus donatum. Ovarium inferum, uniloculare, 
