Sieyos. ] LXIV. CUCURBITACEZ (HOOKER), 569 
lobes broad, acute or acuminate, irregularly toothed, the middle one 
often longest, hairy on both surfaces. Male fl.: Peduncle 2-8 in. long. 
Flowers green, minute, } in. diameter, densely racemose at the top of 
the peduncle. Anthers sessile forming a capitulum on the columnar 
connate filaments; cells contorted. Fruits crowded in a shortly pe- 
duncled capitulum, ovate, compressed, 4 in. long, densely hispid with 
barbed setee.—Seringe in DC. Prod. iti. 309; A. Rich. Fl. Abyss. 
1. 296? 8. Schimperi, Naud. in Schweinfurth & Ascherson’s Appendix 
to Beitr. F]. Athiop. 268. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 
Lower Guinea, Thickets in Huilla, Dr. Welwitsch ! 
Also a native of N. and S. America and the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. 
Orpen LXV. BEGONIACEA. (By Dr. Hooker.) 
Flowers moncecious, unsymmetrical. Male: Perianth-segments 2 
r more, petaloid; 2 outer opposite, valvate, inner imbricate or 0. 
tamens indefinite, inserted on a small receptacle ; anthers adnate to 
the filaments, free or connate ; cells dehiscing laterally. Rudimentary 
ovary 0. Female f1.: Perianth-segments 2, opposite or more variously 
wranged. Staminodes 0. Ovary inferior, 2—4- rarely I-celled, 3-4- 
angled or winged ; styles 2-5, free or connate, stigmas capitate, linear 
or 2-fid, arms papillose all over or in a long spiral line ; ovules exces- 
Sively humerous, on axile projecting simple or lobed placentas. Fruit 
@ loculicidal rarely septicidal capsule, rarely a fleshy berry, 2-8- rarely 
,, OT more-celled. Seeds very numerous, minute, testa reticulate, 
wmen thin or 0 ; embryo ovoid or subcylindric ; cotyledons very 
short.—Herbs or undershrubs, sometimes stemless, usually succulent. 
Leaves alternate, sometimes distichous, unequal-sided. Stipules free, 
eciduous, Cymes axillary, uni- or bi-sexual; bracts and bracteoles 
usually o posite, caducous. Flowers often handsome, rosy or white, 
tarely yellow or red. 
A very large Tropi i i 1 for the Order con- 
: ' arge Tropical especially American Order, or rather genus, fo : y 
tains besides Begonia, but oi pe Fien member, the Sandwich Island Hillebrandia, 
ita has 5 equal calyx-lobes, as many minute petals, and a capsule dehiscing at the 
ex above the insertion of the calyx-lobes. 
l. BEGONIA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. in Gen. Plant. i. 841. 
Characters of the Order. 
The African species are for the most part berried, and more or less imperfect; they 
are, moreover, extremely difficult of analysis from dried specimens, and much allowance 
ust be made for the following descriptions. 
m Sl. Monecious. Stem erect, tall. Sepals 2. Petals 2. Styles 4, terete, simple, 
‘gmatic on the inner surface towards the tip. Fruit long, slender, 4-angled. 
Leaves ovate-o}] . 1. B. Manni. 
ovlong, long-petioled, base cordate. . st, ama 5 Focforciax. 
aves linear or linear-obiong, b dat 
g, base cordate . 
*ves ovate-oblong, short-petioled, base rounded . . « & B. ee ae vs 
ves narrow-lanceolate, petiole very short . . . « = 4. B. polygonoides. 
