190 CXVIA, HERNANDIACEE (SPRAGUE). [ Gyrocarpus. 
accrescent perianth-segments. Cotyledons spirally twisted.—Trees with 
simple, long-petioled, undivided or 3—5-lobed leaves. Cymes corymbose, 
ebracteate, borne chiefly in the axils of the upper leaves. Flowers very 
‘small and numerous. 
Species 5 or more, in the tropical parts of both hemispheres, some undescribed. 
1. G. asiaticus, Willd. Sp. Pl. iv. 982. <A tree, 30-80 ft. high. 
Branchlets stout, pubescent in a young state. Leaves crowded towards 
the ends of the branchlets, broadly ovate or suborbicular, those on young 
trees deeply 3-lobed, often 8-10 in. in diam., those on old trees usually 
undivided, 4-5 in. long, 3-34 in. broad, all more or less acuminate, 
simply cuneate at the base or cuneate from a cordate or truncate base, 
3-nerved with the lateral nerves soon forked, or more rarely 5-nerved 
from the base, glabrous or slightly puberulous above, more or less 
puberulous or pubescent below, sometimes only on the nerves; petiole 
2-54 in. long. Cymes 2-4 in. long, densely pubescent. Flowers 
greenish-yellow or cream-coloured, either all male in a cyme, or the 
terminal ones hermaphrodite. Perianth } lin. long in male, 2-1 lin. 
long in hermaphrodite flowers, densely pubescent outside ; the two larger 
lobes of the hermaphrodite flower 2—3-lobed. Filaments ?-1 lin. long, 
puberulous. Staminodes stalked, villous above, Style densely pubescent, 
4 lin. long. Fruits ovoid, about 2 in. long, velvety, ribbed above, 
rugose below; wings elongate-spathulate, 2-34 in. long, puberulous.— 
Jacq. Fragm. 63, t. 98, f. 2; Roem. & Schult. Syst. Veg. iii. 292; 
Mant. 218; Spreng. Syst. Veg. 1.489; Nees in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. ii. 68; 
Blume in Ann. Sci. Nat. 2™° sér. ii. 97; Nees, Syst. Laur. 701; Miq. 
Fl]. Ned. Ind. i. i. 978; Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xv. i. 248; Baker f. in 
Andrews, Monogr, Christm."Island, 178. G. Jucguini, Roxb. Pl. Corom. 
i. 1, t. 1 (excl. syn.); Roxb. Fl. Ind. ed. Carey & Wall. i. 465 (ed. Carey, 
i, 445); Seem. Fl. Vitien. 95 (excl. syn.); Laws. in Oliv. Fl. Trop. 
Afr. ii. 435; Beddome, Fl. Sylv. t. 196; Kurz, For. Fl. Brit. Burma, 
1. 470; C. B. Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 461; Trimen, 
Handbk. Fl. Ceylon, ii. 165. G. americanus, Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. A. 75, 
. 182; Prain, Bengal Pl, i. 484; Cooke, Fl. Bombay, i. 486; not of 
Jacq. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, ex Engler. British East Africa: Takaungu, 80 ft., 
Thomas ! 
Preis Guinea. Angola: Huilla; on the river-bank at Tschahut, Fritsche, 
ge ee Dist. German East Africa: Usambara; Kwa Mshuza, Holst 
Also in Asia and Polynesia ; the Australian specimens which have been referred 
here may represent one or more distinct species. A small branchlet bearing young 
fruits, from the Victoria Falls, Rhodesia, Allen, 401, may possibly belong to G. 
asiaticus. The fruits, however, differ in being glabrous. Gyrocarpus was formerly 
referred to the Combretacee, and G, asiaticus was included under that order in Fl. 
Trop. Afr. ii, 435, as G. Jacquini, on the strength of a statement by Welwitsch that 
he had it in his Angola collection. Hiern (Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 356) states that 
‘Welwitsch’s specimen was Illigera pentaphylla, Welw. 
