Samolus. | LXXVIII. PRIMULACEZ (OLIVER). 491 
Radical leaves obovate or elliptical, obtuse, narrowed into petiole; cau- 
line obovate or oblanceolate, more shortly petiolate. Flowers on slender 
ascending or spreading pedicels, with a minute bract near the middle, 
in terminal lax racemes. 
North Central. Bornou (R. Brown in Denham and Clapperton, App.). 
Wile Land. Abyssinia (Schweinf. et Aschers. Enum, 273). 
One of ‘the most widely diffused Phanerogams. 
Orpen LXXIX. MYRSINEA. (By J. G. Baker.) 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or polygamo-dicecious. Calyx mi- 
nute, campanulate, persistent, with 4-6 imbricate or valvate teeth, 
entirely free from the calyx, except in Mesa. Corolla usually monope- 
talous, rotate, with as many segments as the calyx, in Embelia polype- 
talous. Stamens as many as the segments of the corolla and inserted 
opposite to them at their base; filaments subulate, long or short ; an- 
thers 2-celled, with loculicidal dehiscence, often cuspidate with the 
produced connective. Staminodia 0 in the Tropical African genera. 
Ovary l1-celled, with a free central placenta; ovules many or few ; 
style simple, short or produced ; stigma various. Fruit small, globose, 
except in Mesa 1-seeded, with usually a firm endocarp and a thin 
fleshy mesocarp. Seed with abundant uniform or ruminate albumen. 
—Trees or shrubs, erect or climbing, usually glabrous; leaves alter- 
hate, exstipulate, simple, usually petioled, entire or toothed, often fur- 
nished with copious black resinous dots or lines; flowers small, 
variously arranged, whitish or tinged with red, often dotted with 
glands like the leaves, 
i An Order of 500 species, mainly restricted to the Tropical regions of both 
emispheres ; represented in this Flora by a very small proportion of species. 
Ovary adnate to the calyx. Seedsmany . ..- - 1. Masa. 
vary free from the calyx. Seed solitary. 
Owers in axillary fascicles 2. MyRsine. 
Owers In racemes or panicles. 
Corolla gamopetalous, contorted . . . - + + 3 me 
Corolla polypetalous, imbricate. . . . - + + 4 Empetia. 
1. MBSA, Forsk.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 641. 
Flowers hermaphrodite or polygamo-dicecious. Calyx campanulate ; 
Ube adnate to the ovary; tecth 5, minute, deltoid, persistent, imbri- 
ate in bud. Corolla campanulate, with a short tube and 5 rerrnens 
roundish or deltoid segments. Stamens 5, very small, inserted in : 
Corolla-tube ; anthers globose. Ovary adnate to the calyx-tube a 
at the top ; style short, cylindrical ; stigma capitate ; ovules ae 
qu? inserted on a turbinate placenta. Fruit small, a ay = 
‘shy, tipped with the persistent style and stigma. Se : gerd 
gt: fattened at the top.—Erect or climbing. trees or § feb 
5~ tous or pubescent branchlets, entire or serrated leaves, a a ke 
*orlaceous in texture nor crowded near the tip of the branchle 
