94 FLORA VITIENSIS. 
on festive occasions, or to call the Christian natives to divine worship; and it is a curious coincidence, but 
nothing but a coincidence, that the ancient Egyptian term for rejoicing was “lali,” as in the Arabian song 
** Doos ya-lel-lee." These drums are beaten with two short and thick pieces of wood, and the sound pro- 
duced ean be heard within a radius of several miles. From Forster's account, it appears that the Tahitians 
also made drums of this wood (** Materies pro extruendis cymbis, tympanis, scamnisque usurpatur"). The 
seed is edible, and the white colonists have given it the name of * Fijian almonds;” but as it has only the 
shape and whiteness, but not the flavour of the almond, that name must be received ewm grano salis. The 
natives are extremely fond of the Tavola as an ornamental tree, and frequently plant it near their houses 
and around their publie buildings. The horizontal tendency of the branches, upon which they improve by 
applying weights, the clean look of the tree and its freedom from epiphytic plants, and the animals hoard- 
ing in them, as well as the change of colour which the leaves undergo before falling off—brown, red, yellow, 
and scarlet,—seem to please them very much. 
2. T. litoralis, (sp. nov.) Seem.; arborea ; ramis sparsis suberecto-patentibus, ramulis junioribus 
petiolisque albido-tomentosis, demum glabris; foliis sparsis breviter petiolatis obovatis obtusis v. 
emarginatis basi subcordatis, integerrimis, utrinque glaberrimis, subtus in axillis nervorum glandu- 
losis, nervis primariis utriusque lateris 7-8; racemis filiformibus, pedunculis pedicellisque gla- 
berrimis; calyce 4—5-fido extus glabro intus albido-villoso; drupa compressa obovato-rotundata multo 
minore quam in T. Catappa.—T. Moluccana, auct., non Lam.? Catappa litorea, Rumph. Herb. 
Amb. p. 175.—N omen vernac. Vitiense, “ Tiwi."—Common on the sandy sea-beaches; never found 
inland (Seemann! n. 188). : 
A tree often sixty feet high, branches crooked, and irregularly scattered around the stem. Wood 
used for building purposes; the seeds sometimes eaten by children, and inferior in quality to those of 
T. Catappa. 
II. Lumnitzera, Willd. in Berl. Nat. Fr. vol. iv. p. 186; Endl. Gen. n. 6084. Calyx tubo 
oblongo compresso adnato 2-bracteolato, limbi superi persistentis tubuloso-campanulati 5-lobi lobis 
obtusis, sepe ineequalibus. Petala 5, summo calycis limbo inter ejusdem lobos inserta, oblonga, patentia. 
Stamina 10, 3 v. 5 interdum abortiva; filamenta filiformi-subulata, antherz 2-loculares, longitudi- 
naliter dehiscentes. Ovarium inferum, 1-loculare. Ovula 3-5, pendula, anatropa. Stylus subu- 
latus; stigma acutum.  Drupa coriacea, calycis limbo coronata, ovato-oblonga, compressa, angulata, 
l-sperma. Semen inversum. Embryonis exalbuminosi orthotropi cotyledones foliaces, circa radi- 
culam superam convolute.—Frutices v. arbores, inter Rhizophoras littorales ; foliis alternis cuneato- 
oblongis retusis v. emarginatis integerrimis v. obsolete crenatis glabris crassiusculis subaveniis, spicis 
brevibus plerumque simplicibus, axillaribus solitariis v. terminalibus corymbosis, floribus albis v. 
coccineis, bractea parva stipatis.—Phyrranthus, Jack in Malay. Misc. Petaloma, Roxb. Fl. Ind. vol. 
ii. p. 372. | | 
1. L. coccinea, Wight et Arn. Prodr. p. 316; arborea v. fruticosa, glabra; foliis obovatis v. 
oblongo-cuneatis obtusissimis crassis; floribus (coccineis) racemosis terminalibus, szepius subcorym- 
bosis; calycis laciniis obtusis; staminibus petalis duplo longioribus.— Benth. Fl. Austr. vol. ii. p. 
503.—Nomen vernac. Vitiense, “ Sagali."—Common in the Mangrove swamps of all the islands 
(Seemann! n. 189). Also found on the -east coast of Australia (Banks and Solander !) and in the 
Indian Archipelago. 
The wood is blackish, hard, and durable, and used for various purposes. 
III. Gyrocarpus, Jacq. Amer. p. 282. t. 178. fig. 80; Endl. Gen. n. 2068. Flores polygami. 
Hermaphr.: Calycis tubus cum ovario connatus ; limbus superus, 4-6-8-lobus, lobis 2 oppositis per- 
sistentibus, demum increscentibus. Petala 0. Stamina 4; filamenta glandulis (staminodiis) stipi- 
tatis distinctis v. utrinque adnatis interposita; antherz valvulis dehiscentes. Ovarium adherens, 
l-loculare; ovulum 1, pendulum, anatropum. Stigma sessile, subobliquum.  Drupa apice bialata, 
l-sperma. Semen inversum, testa cartilaginea.: Embryo orthotropus, exalbuminosus. Cotyledones 
