polygalejE. 49 



scarcely more than half an inch in hreadth, alternate, potiolate, 

 Gvato-Ianceolate, acuminate with the apex blunt, acute at the 

 base, entire, coriaceous, glabrous, shining, nerveless : petiole 

 short, puberulous. Racemes axillary, solitary : peduncle shorter 

 than the petiole : flowers rather small, white, shortly pedicelled. 

 Calycine sepals 5, imbricated during aestivation, unequal, united 

 at the base : the 3 outer sepals small, ovate, acute ; the 2 inner 

 larger, orbiculate, concave. The two upper petals pubescent, 

 ciliated ; the lower one concave at the apex, ciliated, green. 

 Stamens monadelphous : anthers white. Ovary stipitate, orbicu- 

 late, compi-essed, slightly puberulous : style erect : stigma blunt. 

 C.ipsule obcordate, glabrous, 2-seeded ; seed oval, arillated. 



III. Securidaca. 



Calycine sepals 5, with the 2 inner ones petaHform. 

 Petals 5, slightly connected at the base ; 3 of them 

 united into a 3-lobed keel ; the other 2 oblong. Sta- 

 mens 8, diadelphous. Capsule ovate, indehiscent, 

 one-celled, expanded at the apex into a leaf- like wing. 

 Seed pendulous from the apex of the cell : albumen 

 none — De Cand. 



SuflFruticose plants, with alternate leaves, of an ovate or ob- 

 lang figure, and with the flowers racemose. — Name., derived 

 from the Latin, securis a hatchet, in allusion to the form of 

 the pod. 



1. Securidaca virgata. Purple Securidaca. 



Glabrous, stem sarmentose, branches virgate, leaves 

 elliptic rounded at the apex subacute at the base, ra- 

 cemes terminal, wing of the capsule rounded. 



Stvartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. HI. 1231 Brotvne, 287 Plum. t. 



248. f. 1. 



HAI3. Common. 



FL. November — February. 



Ascending to a considerable height, supporting itself on 

 neighbouring trees and shrubs : branches alternate, divaricating, 

 long and twiggy, terete, glabrous. Leaves l|-2 inches in 

 length, elliptic, very obtuse at the apex, subacute at the base, 

 occasionally subemarginate, concave beneath, puberulous to the 

 glass on both sides, obscurely nerved : petiole about 3 lines in 

 length, and, like the extremities of the branches, puberulous. 

 Racemes terminal, subdivided : branches distichally arranged, 

 subsimple, many-flowered : pedicels nearly an inch in length, 

 filiform, coloured, puberulous, 1-flowered, articulated on a pro- 

 minent excavated tubercle on the common peduncle. Flowers 



VOL. I. E 



