swingle: new genus of citrous fruits 



573 



Maiden, and other Australian botanists. No reliance can be placed in 

 the identifications of Bentham and Mueller in the Flora Australiensis 

 (1863) which are based confessedly on imperfect material and on the 

 false assumption that the round-fruited species had flowers with only 

 10 stamens. 



ArtWVR FlTZPATfllCK 



Fig. 2. M. australasica. Horizontal spiny twigs of a young plant showing 



juvenile foliage. Natural size. 



The finger lime is one of the most cm'ious and interesting of the 

 citrous fruits. The young plants have more or less horizontally 

 arranged branchlets, with very short internodes, and small oval or 

 ovate juvenile leaves, these much shorter than the stiff, erect spines 

 (fig. 2); the mature leaves are small, 1.5-4 cm. long, 1.2-2.5 cm. broad, 

 ovate, cuneiform or subrhombic, usually very blunt or emarginate at 

 the apex (fig. 3). The flowers are small, sub- 

 sessile, usually 5-merous but sometimes 3-4- 

 merous, with erect, concave, broadly rounded 

 petals (fig. 3) ; the pistil is very short and thick- 

 set, the ovary 5-7-celled, with numerous ovules 

 in each cell (8-16 or even 20). The fruits are 

 long and slender, cylindric-fusiform, 6.5-10 cm. 

 X 1.5-2.5 cm., often slightly curved, frequently 

 showing a short blunt protuberance at both 

 the base and tip (fig. 4, A). The pulp is com- 

 posed of loosely cohering, subglobose, long- 

 stalked pulp vesicles (fig. 4, B, C) filled with a 

 sour, rather strongly pungent juice. The seeds 

 are small, 6-7 mm. long, ovate, usually flattened 

 on one side and often showing small depres- 



. Fig. 3. M . australasi- 

 ca. Flowering twig of 

 a young plant showing 

 mature leaves and 3- 

 merous flowers. Natu- 

 ral size. 



