lo6 SAXTALACE.E (Hill). 



Tribe I. TRESIEJE.— Fruit dry. Stameiis equal in number to perianth-segments. 



T. Ih.emim.-^Floirers termaphrodite. 

 II. TliesidLum. — Floivers dicecious. 



Tribe II. 0>iY WIDE JE,— Fruit succulent. Stamens equal in number to periantb- 



segmcnta, 



III. Osyridocarpus.^i^/c<2i't'r5 hermaphrodite. Pcrianth-tuhe above ovary 



elongate. Disc obscure, 



ly. Elvoiocarpns.— F^oK'frs hermaphrodite. Perianth-tvbe above ovary 



short. Disc prominent. 





I. THESIUM, Linn. 



F 



Floxcers hermaphrodite. Perianth superior, cnp-shaped on a 

 tuhular or turbinate receptacle enclosing the ovary ; external 

 lands 5, usually present alternating with the perianth-segments; 

 segments 5, valvate, more or less hooded, with or without an 

 apical beard of hairs, margins hairy, papillose, lacinulate or 

 glabrous, sometimes incurved, usually with a tuft of hairs on then' 

 face behind the anthers and adhering to the apex of the anther- 

 cells, when absent a ring of hairs occurs at the throat of the 

 perianth-tube at the level of the insertion of the filaments. 

 Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the segments or in the perianth- 

 tnbe ; filaments short, slender ; anthers ovoid or oblong ^vith 

 two parallel cells dehiscing longitudinally. Epigynotis disc often 

 conspicuous. Ovary inferior, 3-merous ; ovules 2-4, pendulous 

 from the apex of a slender flexuous placenta ; style cylindrical 

 or almost absent ; stigma capitate or obscurely 3-lobed, Fruit 

 dry, ellipsoid, globose or ol)ovoid, usually 10-ribbed, with more 

 or less conspicuous reticulation between the ribs, crowned with 

 the persistent perianth. Seed similar in shape to the fruit ; 

 albumen fleshy; embryo central, usually oblique; radicle as long 

 as or longer than the cotyledons. 



Herbs or undenshrubs, glabrous or pubescent, usually (if not always) semi-para.sitic ; 

 leavea in the South African >specieg linear, linoar-hinccolate, subulate or reduced to 

 scales or spines, rarely suborbicular ; influreticence a loose or compact terminal or 

 axillary raceme, spike or panicle, freiiumtly cymose. sometimea a small or fairly 

 large den^e head, the individual flowers being arranged in the axils of a bract 

 and two or more bracteoles. 



DiSTRTB. Species about 250, two only South American, the others inhabiting the 

 temperate regions or niountalud of the troiiical zone of the Old Wurld, about 

 70 extra -African. 



The sections of the genus adopted by De Candolle have been found to be 

 somewhat inconsistent with observed facts, and a rearrangement of the species 

 has been made. Though the present arrangement follows that given m the 

 Prodromus on general lines, new names have been assigned to the sections to 

 prevent confusion with those of De Candolle. 



¥ 



'■ V. Osyris. — Flovsers dioecious or subdioecious, Per-ianth-tifbe above J 



ovary scarcely present. JJL'^c prominent. 



Tribe III. GRUBBIE^E.—J^ruiV drupaceous. Stamens twice asmanyas perianth- 



; segments. 



VI. Grubbia. — F^oico's hermaphrodite in axillary strobiii. 



