432 mMYRSINc# (Harvey). [| Mzsa. 
lobed ; ovules few or many. fruit usually small; epicarp fleshy ; 
endocarp crustaceous, Seed usually solitary, globose; testa thin ; 
albumen fleshy or horny, uniform or ruminate; embryo cylindrical, 
more or less curved. 
Trees, shrubs or undershrubs, usually glabrous; leaves alternate, very rarely 
opposite, sometimes nearly verticillate, entire or toothed, often bearing trans- 
lucent round or elongated resinous glands, exstipulate ; inflorescence cymose, 
umbellate, fascicled, racemose or panicled; flowers usually small, often glandular, 
usually white or rosy. 
Distris. About 600 species, chiefly in the tropics of both hemispheres, some 
extending into the south and a few into the north extra-tropical regions. 
I. Mesa.—Ovary inferior or half-inferior. Seeds many. Petals united. 
Il. Embelia.—Ovary superior. Seeds solitary. Pe/als free. 
Ill. Myrsine.—Ovary superior. Seeds solitary. Peta/s unite. 
I. MZESA, Forsk. 
Calyx bibracteolate at the base, its tube adherent to the ovary, 
limb 5-lobed, the lobes quincuncial in estivation, 2 outer overlap- 
ping 3inner. Corolla 5-fid, subcampanulate, the lobes obtuse with 
inflexed apices. Stamens 5, ineluded, free, Ovary inferior or half- 
inferior, with a basilar placenta; style short; stigma capitate ; 
ovules numerous. Berry covered by the calyx, ovoid. DC. Prodr. 
vill. 77, 
African or Asiatic trees and shrubs ; leaves alternate, penninerved and netted- 
veined, sometimes pellucid dotted; racemes or panicles axillary or terminal, 
many-flowered ; flowers small, white. Name, maas, the Arabic name of one of 
the species. / 
Young branches tomentose; leaves elliptic, acute or 
acuminate, coarsely toothed; panicles much-branched (1) rufescens. 
Young branches puberulous; leaves cuneate-obovate, 
crenato-dentate beyond the middle; racemes simple 
or subsimple ie is ee ae see es 
Young branches glabrous; leaves elliptic or oblong- ; 
elliptic, irregularly serrate ; panicles branched ... (3) angolensis. 
(2) alnifolia. 
1. M. rufescens (A.DC. in DC. Prodr. viii. 81); branches 
entirely or only at the apex rusty-tomentose ; leaves elliptic, acute 
or shortly acuminate, coarsely serrate rarely entire, up to 3 in. long 
and 11 in, wide, glabrous or pubescent beneath; petiole up to 1 in. 
long ; panicle many-flowered, shorter than the leaves, rhachis and 
branches covered with patent hairs; pedicels less than a line long ; 
sepals 1 lin. long, triangular, acute, ciliate ; corolla about 1 lin. long, 
ciliate ; stamens slightly exserted; style about as long as the ovary ; 
stigma obtuse. Mez in Engl. Pflanzenr. Myrsinacew, 25. . 
palustris, Hochst. in Flora, 1844, 825. Beobotrys rufescens, E. 
Meyer ex A.DO. lc. Choristylis rhamnoides, Harv. in Harv. § 
Sond. Fl. Cap. ii. 808 partly. 
KALAHARI ReGion: Transvaal; Hoatbosch, Rehmann, 6012! 
