Octolepis. | CXVIII, THYMELEACEE (PEARSON). 255 
imbricate. Petals usually in pairs opposite the sepals, ciliate, sub- 
spathulate. Stamens 8, in 2 whorls; filaments dilated at the base, 
subulate above, ciliate. Ovary superior, 4-celled ; style elongate ; ovule 
solitary in each cell, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit unknown.—Makokoa 
congolana, Baill. in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, i. 619. 
Lower Guinea. French Congo: Ogowe, Thollon, 343, 
OrpER CXIX. LORANTHACEA. (By T. A. Sprague.) 
Flowers regular or zygomorphic, hermaphrodite or unisexual, 3-6- 
merous. Calyx superior, gamosepalous, lobed or truncate, sometimes 
obsolete. Corolla superior, polypetalous or gamopetalous, petaloid or 
sepaloid, valvate in bud. Stamens as many as and opposite the petals 
or corolla-lobes, and inserted on them ; anthers usually 2-celled, some- 
times divided into numerous small cells, which may be arranged 
irregularly (Visewm) or in 2 or 4 vertical rows (Loranthus). Disc 
superior, annular or absent. Ovary inferior, usually without a distinct 
placenta and ovule; style simple or absent; stigma not or hardly lobed. 
Fruit baccate (in all the African species), crowned by the persistent 
calyx when the latter is present; pericarp sticky. Seed solitary, 
albuminous or exalbuminous, without a distinct testa; embryo fairly 
large, terete or angled, with distinct hypocotyl and 2 (more rarely 3-6) 
eotyledons.—Chlorophyll-containing shrubs or more rarely herbs, para- 
sitic on other plants; very rarely trees. Leaves opposite, ternate or 
alternate, simple, entire, exstipulate, sometimes reduced to mere scales 
or teeth. Inflorescence racemose or cymose. Flowers often large and 
brightly coloured (Loranthus), or small, greenish and inconspicuous 
{Viseum). 
Genera 24, chiefly tropical and subtropical; species about 1000. 
Calyx present, though sometimes reduced to a small rim ; 
flowers hermaphrodite (in all the African species) . . 1. LORANTHUS. 
Calyx obsolete ; flowers unisexual . . . . a 2; V ISOUM. 
1. LORANTHUS, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 207 
(excluding the American species) ; Engl. in Engl. & Prantl, 
Pflanzenfam. iii, i. 183. 
_ Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx more or less lobed, or truncate, some- 
times Very short, occasionally provided inside at the base with a fleshy 
annular thickening (intramarginal ring). Corolla polypetalous or, more 
frequently, gamopetalous, regular or zygomorphic ; tube often split uni- 
laterally for some distance downwards when the flower expands. Fila- 
ments united in their lower part with the petals; anthers introrse, not 
versatile. Style filiform, or gradually thickened upwards in the upper 
part and then rather suddenly contracted into a narrow neck below the 
stigma (shittle-shaped) ; stigma truncate or more or less capitate. Fruit 
baccate, usually globose, ovoid or ellipsoid, crowned by the persistent 
