f 



Balanites.} xxxiv. simarubEjE (oliver). 315 



style simple, terminal. Ovules solitary. Fruit a drupe, 1-seeded, with a bony 

 or crustaceous putamen. Seed " exalbuminous ; embryo with thick plano- 

 convex, corrugate or 2-lobed cotyledons and a superior radicle."— Shrubs or 

 small trees, usually armed, at least when young or stunted, with axillary or 

 supra-axillary spines. Leaves 2-foliolate; leaflets entire, coriaceous. Flowers 

 greenish, in axillary fascicles or short racemose cymes. 

 A genus of two or three species, confined to the warmer parts of Africa and Asia. 



1. B. aegyptiaca, Belile ; DC. Prod. i. 708. Extremities terete, mi- 

 nutely hoary-puberulous or glabrate ; spines various, usually about |-1 in., 

 sometimes 3 in., often wanting on fully grown trees, straight, ascending or 

 patent. Leaflets elliptical or varying from ovate- to obovate-elliptical or 

 rotundate, obtuse or broadly pointed, |-1£ in. long, shortly petiolulate; pe- 

 tiole usually much shorter than the leaflets. Ovary soon lengthening out 

 after flowering, narrowed into the style. Drupe edible, with a thick bony 

 putamen ; the seed affording an oil. 



Upper Guinea. Niger, Barter ! 



North Central, liornou (fide Broicn in Benh. and Clapp. App. 232). 



Nile Land. Upper Nile, Abyssinia, Sennar, Schimper ! Roth ! Kotschy I and others. 



Var. angolensis, Welw. niss. Fruit ellipsoidal, terete, about 1 iu. long, with a thin crus- 

 taceous endocarp. 



Lower Guinea. Loanda, Angola, Br. Welwitsch! 



The fruit- of this variety differs so remarkably from that of the ordinary form, that this 

 plant may probably be specifically distinct. I do not detect any difference, however, in the 



A fragment in the Kew Herbarium, from the Rovuina river {Br. Kirk), without flowers, 

 wars forked spines. It may belong to a distinct species. It is described as a climbing shrub. 



Order XXXV. OCHNACEjE (by Prof. Oliver) . 

 Tribe Ochnejo. 



Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 5, free, imbricate, scarious or 

 coriaceous. Petals as many, free, equalling or exceeding the sepals, sub- 

 sessile or unguiculate, contorted or imbricate. Stamens 10 or indefinite ; 

 "laments frequently persistent, free. Anthers linear, often elongate or ob- 

 l0 »g, basifixed, dehiscing longitudinally or by apical pores. Ovary deeply 

 •5 10-lobed, inserted upon a thickened disk enlarging after flowering, each 

 ] obe 1 -celled, 1 -ovulate ; style central, filiform or subulate; stigma terminal, 

 simple, or style divided at the apex into as many short branches as carpels ; 

 stl Smas capitellate. Fruit of 3-10 drupes inserted upon the enlarged 

 ° r us, sessile. Seeds exalbuminous ; radicle very small.— Trees or shrubs, 

 leaves alternate, simple, perfectly glabrous, penniveined, stipulate. Flowers 

 "terminal or axillary panicles, racemes or fascicles ; usually yellow or orange ; 

 P<*"cels articulated. 



the°N naC ™ are a 8ma)1 0rder > confined to the tropics, most of the genera being peculiar to 

 ■ «cw World. The two following genera arc shared with both Asia and America. 



^E^ 1 "^'^- Anthers dehiscing by pore-like apical slits or longitu- 



•"•euslO. Anthers "dehiscing "by apical poics! '.'.'.'.'•'•■■ 2. Gomi'IUa. 



