168 SIGNOR T. CARUEL ON COMBBETUM BUTYROSUM. 



not beloug to any of the known orders of plants, but ought pro- 

 bably to constitute a new order of Shece, in the neighbourhood of 

 Myi'taceas. 



Owing to the liberality of the learned Professor, who sent 

 specimens of the plant, both in flower and fruit, to the Central 

 Herbarium in Florence, I have been able to examine it more 

 closely, and the result of my inspection has been to confirm a 

 suspicion that had arisen in my mind, at first sight of the plant, 

 that it was a Comhretacea. In fact, I consider it as a true Com- 

 hretum, from which it differs in no respect but in having an 

 apterous fruit — a character by no means sufficient, I should think, 

 to constitute it as a distinct genus, much more so as we see in 

 the same order another genus {Terminalid) with winged or wing- 

 less fruits. The blossoms and the general habit are entirely those 

 of a Gombretum. The following description of the plant (which I 

 shall call Comhretum butyrosum) will, I hope, satisfy my readers 

 as to the accuracy of the view I have taken of the subject. 



CoMBRETUM BUTYROSUM, Car. MSS. {Sheadeudron butyrosum, Bert. ! 

 Illustr. di Pianti Mozambicesi, dissert. 1*, p. 12, f. 4, where the analyses 

 of the flower are partly incorrect, the ovules of the inferior ovary 

 being taken for a free ovary, &c. ; Walp. Ann. Bot. Syst. iii. 861). — 

 Arbor. Rami tenues, ineurvi, teretes, juniores pube rufa adpressa 

 villosi, dein glabrati cortiee tenui griseo facile scindibili. Folia oppo- 

 sita, exstipulata, brevissime petiolata, petiolo villoso, elliptica, inte- 

 gerrima, margine tantulum recurvato, basi subcordata, apice cuspide 

 brevi apiculata, reticulato-nervosa, nervis subtus prominentibus, ^-\ 

 decim. longa, dura, supra Isevia glabra, subtus pallidiora glandulisque 

 exiguis crebre punctata. Spicae (ut videtur indeterminatae) multi- 

 florae, densae, breves, pedunculo brevi vel longiusculo stipitatae, paucae 

 (ad summum 5) oppositae vel alternae in ramulis ex axilla foliorura 

 ortis, quaeeunque basi suff'ulta bractea lanceolata caduca. Flores 

 erecto-patentes, sessiles, braeteola fihformi breviuscula comitati. 

 Calyx obconicus, S"""" longus, tubo brevissimo, cum ovario connato, 

 villoso, limbo glabrescente, glanduloso, fauee parum ampliata, 4-den- 

 tata, dentibus brevibus, triangulis, barbatis, praefloratione valvatis. 

 Petala 4, parva (1^""" longa), ad summam faucem inserta, cum den- 

 tibus calycinis alternantia, cuneata, truncata, apice eroso-dentata. 

 Stamina 8, 4 cum petalis alternantia supra medium limbi ealycini 

 inserta, breviter exserta, 4 autem petalis opposita sub ore inserta, 

 longe exserta. Filamenta filiformia, apice subulata, glabra, staminum 

 omnium aequilonga, ante anthesin incurvata. Antherae parvae, ovales, 

 medio dorsi insertae, utrinque emarginatae, introrsae, longitudinaliter 

 dehiscentes, deciduae, in sicco ochroleucae. Pollen (in aqua) globosum, 

 poris ut videtur tribus donatum. Ovarium inferum, uniloculare. 



