15'J Dr. Atfiott im some ucir or rare Indian Plants. 



lendus. Stigmata 4, punctiformia. — " Capsula oblonga, unilocu- 

 laris, bivalvis, a basi dehiscens. Semina Bolitaria, arillo tenui buccu- 

 Lento involuta. Albumen firmum tenaz. Embryo erectus, cotyledo- 

 oibua cordato-ovatis, radicula cylindrica, infeia." — Roxb. 



Lrbor elegans, glabra, habitu Carallise. Folia opposite, ovata vel 

 ovatO'lanceolata, obtuse acuminata, coriacea, integerrima, subtus pal- 

 lida, tenuiter penninervia, petiolata. Stipule nulla-. Pedunculi axil- 

 lares, vil sujiru-uxillures ac intcrpctiolarcs, perbreves, semel bisvc di- 

 chotomi, paucifiori. Floras brevissime pedicellati, pedicellis basi bi- 

 bracteolatis. 



1. M. discolor. Wall. Cat. n. 4337- — Cassine discolor, Wall, in 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. (ed. Wall.) ii. p. 378. — Evonymus garcinifolius. 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. p. 628. (ed. Wall.) i. p. 404. 



Hab. in Sillier. 



The above character is derived solely from M. discolor, but 

 Dr. Wallich, in his list of East India plants, indicates with 

 doubt some other species. One of these, however, is Celas- 

 trus biralris of Jack, which has no petals, and must be very 

 different. 



The genus is only pointed out by Dr. Wallich, and is 

 adopted by Dr. Lindley, in his ( Introduction to the Natural 

 System 5 , without a definition. Dr. Wallich, influenced pro- 

 bably by the gamopetalous corolla, originally united it with 

 Cassine, which is now generally referred to Ilicinece: Rox- 

 burgh inserted it in Evonymus, and described the petals as di- 

 stinct : DeCandolle seems not to have been acquainted with 

 it : Lindley places it without doubt in Celastrinece. To me 

 its affinities are not at first sight very clear. In the true Ce- 

 lastrinece there is usually a large flat disk, covering the shallow 

 bottom of the calyx and cohering with it ; the petals are di- 

 stinct, and the stamens, so far from being inserted on the pe- 

 tals, often arise from the middle of the upper surface of the 

 torus or disk. In Ilicinece, on the contrary, the petals are 

 more or less united at the base, the stamens inserted on the 

 tube, and there is no disk ; from which considerations only 

 one would have little hesitation in referring Microtropis to the 

 latter family. But in Ilicinece the ovules are solitary, the seeds 

 exarillate, and the fruit indehiscent ; so that in as far as re- 

 lates to these organs this genus is more related to Celastrinece. 



