174 xxrv. dipterocarpe.e (oliver). [Loj/Jdra. 



like. Petals dilated above, 2-fid or retuse. Stamens indefinite; anthers 

 narrow-linear, unappendnged ; valves equal, dehiscing longitudinally near the 

 apex. Ovary 1-celled, elongate-conical ; style shortly 2-fid with patent re- 

 curved lobes; ovules about 8-12 on a free central column, erect. Nut 

 oblong, tapering above, 1-seeded. Seed erect. Cotyledons fleshy, connate 

 nearly throughout, narrow-oblong, radicle very shortly exserted, inferior. — A 

 large tree. Leaves elongate, rather coriaceous, entire, narrowed to the base, 

 with numerous parallel lateral veins, glabrous. Stipules minute, triangular, 

 caducous. Flowers in terminal pyramidal panicles. 



A remarkable monotypic genus confined to intertropical Africa, though occurring both in 

 the east and west. 



1. L. alata, Banks in Gartn. Fruct. iii. 32. t. 188. Leaves elongate- 

 oblanceolate, usually obtuse, emarginate or retuse, often more or less crispate- 

 undulate, nan-owed* to the base, 8-30 in. long, 2-5 in. broad ; petiole varying 

 up to 2£ in., often very short or leaves subsessile. Flowers white {Mann), 

 yellow (Guill. et Perr.), about 1-1^ in. across. Larger wing of the fruit 

 erect, coriaceous, broadly oblong-lanceolate or obliquely linear- oblong, 3-4 a 

 in. long, with longitudinal anastomosing usually obscure nerves, " crimson 

 (Barter). Nut about 1-1| in. long.— Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. t. 24. L. 

 simplex^ Don, Gen. Syst. i. 814. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia I Sierra Leone, Bon ; Niger, Barter ! Ambas Bay, 

 Mann ! 



Nile Land. Madi, White Nile, Speke and Grant ! 



Captain Grant says the leaf is used as a charm. In Western Africa the fruit-calyx is 

 worn as an ornament by the native women. 



3. ANCISTROCLADUS, Wall. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 191. 



Calyx deeply 5 -partite or sepals free, imbricate in aestivation ; lobes en- 

 larged in fruit, unequal. Stamens 5-10, perigynous ; filaments free or 

 shortly connate or adnate to the base of the petals ; anthers 2-celled ; valves 

 equal or rather unequal. Ovary 1-celled, inferior, with a solitary erect or 

 laterally affixed ovule, crowned by the shortly cylindrical elevated fleshy disk 

 bearing 3 articulated styles ; stigmas (terminal in the African species). Fnw 

 adnate to the turbinate calyx-tube, surmounted by the enlarged wings (calyx- 

 lobes). Seed subglobose. Embryo straight, clavate; cotyledons subfoha- 

 ceous, divergent. Albumen fleshy," in closely folded convolutions.— Climbing 

 glabrous shrubs ; branches usually furnished with hooks. Leaves entire or 

 denticulate, rather coriaceous, penniveined. Panicles terminal with divari- 

 cate often recurved branches. 



A small genus confined to tropical Asia and the Archipelago, with the exception of the 

 following. A. guineensis is very nearly allied to Malayan species, but of none of the Asiatic 

 species have I had the opportunity of examining well-developed flowers, and 1 believe the dis- 

 crepancy between the description of the pistil as given above and in the Gen. Plantarum » 

 due to the circumstance that imperfect drawings or descriptions were relied upon in pre- 

 paring the latter. We have numerous good flowers of the African species but no fruits, 

 and the description of the embryo I have borrowed from Mr. Thwaites' careful account ot 

 it (Linn. Trans. «i. 225). 



