byttneriace^t:. " 95 



valvular. Petals 5, or none, liypogynoiis. Stamens 

 in number equal, or 2-3 or many times the number 

 of the sepals or petals, monadelphous : anthers 2-cell- 

 ed, turned outwards. Carpels 5, rarely 3, or uniting 

 to form a single ovarium. Styles of the same number 

 as the carpels. Fruit capsular. Albumen oily or 

 fleshy, rarely awanting. Embryo straight, with an 

 inferior radicle : cotyledons iea/y, or very thick. 



Trees or shrubs : when pubescent, the hairs are star-shaped : 

 leaves alternate, simple, stipulated. This Order differs very 

 little from the two preceding, except that the anthers, in this, 

 are bilocular. Like the Mallow tribe, they give out, when in- 

 fused in water, a mucilaginous juice. It is from the Sterculia 

 Tragacantha that the gum Tragacanth is obtained. The 

 flowers of many of the species, such as the Astrapgea WALLt- 

 cHii, a native of India, are said to be among the most beautiful 

 in the world. 



I. Sterculia. 



Calyx 5-lobed, subcoriaceous. Stamens monadel- 

 phous, situated on a short sessile or stalked urceole : 

 anthers 10, 15, 20, in one or two rows, solitary or 

 ternately aggregate. Ovary stipitate, or sessile. Car- 

 pels follicular, 5, distinct, 1 -celled 1- or many-seeded, 

 dehiscent superiorly by a broad slit : albumen of the 

 seeds oily ; cotyledons plain, leafy, equal. — Z>e Cand. 



Name, from Sterculius the Roman god oi the privy, which 

 again is derived from stercus excrement. The leaves of one 

 species, and the flowers of another, have a disagreeable foetid 

 odour. 



1. Sterculia acuminata. Cola-nut, 



Leaves oblong acuminate very entire glabrous on 

 long petioles, flowers axillary panicled, anthers bi- 

 serial sessile, carpels 1 -seeded. 



De Cand. Prod. I. 482. 



HAB. Cultivated. 



FL. May. 



This is a tree of moderate height, introduced into this Island 

 from the hottest parts of Africa, of which it is a native. The 

 fruit is known by the names of Cola, KoUa or Colla, and appears 

 from the writings of the older Botanists to have been imported 

 and known in Europe, long before they became acquainted 



