OCEANIC DISPEKSAL OF PLANTS. 291 



LEGUMINOSzE. 



Mucuna sp. 



New Guinea drift. 



A single seed belonging to this genus. In the Kew Museum there are stranded pods 

 and seeds of various species of Mucuna from the east coast of Africa (Kirk), Kaffraria 

 (Hutton), Azores (Darwin), Portsmouth (Dickson), and Lofoten Islands (Blytt). 



Dioclea reflexa, Hook. f. 



Dioclea reflexa, Hook. f. ; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr.. ii. p. 189 ; Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. Did., p. 198. 

 New Guinea drift. 



There are seeds of this in the Kew Museum from Tristan da Cunha, where they were 

 washed ashore. They were collected by Mr Moseley. It is widely spread in Tropical 

 Asia, Africa, and America. The allied Dioclea violacea, Mart., inhabits Brazil, and it has 

 also been collected in the Fiji Islands, Tahiti, and the Sandwich Islands, whither it may 

 have been conveyed by currents. 



Oanavalia obtusifolia, DC. 



Canavalia obtusifolia, DC; Griseb./ Fl. Brit. W. Ind., p. 197. 

 New Guinea drift, and also washed ashore at Palisadoes Plantation, Jamaica. 



ROSACEA. 

 Parinarium sp. ? 



New Guinea drift. 



Parinarium is spread nearly all over the tropical regions, and although the fruit 

 which we have referred to this genus is very much water-worn, the remains of the basal 

 style, together with its general character, are sufficient to prove its affinity. It is not 

 unbke Parinarium insularum, A. Gr. 



RHIZOPHORE.E. 

 Rhizophora mucronata, Lam. 



Germinated plantlets in the New Guinea drift. 



The somewhat top-shaped fruit of this mangrove is always one-seeded, although the 

 young ovary is two-celled, with two ovules in each cell, and it is only one and a half to 

 two inches long ; yet from the embryo within, which in germination protrudes from the 

 top, is developed a radicle of extraordinary length before the fruit leaves the plant. The 

 radicle is spindle-shaped, sharply pointed, often more than a foot in length, and sufficiently 

 heavy to pierce the mud when it falls ; at which time the plumule is still quite small. Of 



