RHAMNEffi. 207 



ther, axillary, pedlcelled, small. — Named, in lionoiir of James 

 Clir. SclisefFer, of Ratisbon, author of several Botanical works. 

 This genus, I consider, as belonging to the present order, and 

 not to the Rhamne^, from the aestivation being imbricated, 

 from the stamens being alternate with the petals and opposite 

 to the sepals, and from the ovary being free. 



1. ScliasfFeria completa. Perfect-flowered Schcpfferia. 



Leaves elliptic acuminate at both ends subentirc as 

 well as the branchlets glabrous, petals oblong obtuse, 

 ovary glabrous. 



Buxi folio majore acuminato, arbor baccifera, fructu minoro 

 croceo dipyreno, Sloane, 102. t. 209. f. 1. — Schiefferia completa. 

 Sivartz, FL Ind. Occ. I. 327. t. 7. — S. frutescens, Jacq. Amer. 

 259 De Cand. Prod. II. 41. 



HAB. Thickets. 



FL. May, June ; more rarely January. 



A shrubby tree, about 10 feet in height: branches erect, 

 terete, striatulated at their extremities, glabrous. Leaves al- 

 ternate, petiolated, elliptic or broad-lanceolate, attenuated at 

 the base, subacuminate with a small bluntish apicula, subentire 

 (or obsoletely crenated), glabrous, shining above, greasy to the 

 touch, nerved and veined : petiole terete, short. $ FL Pedicels 

 axillary, 3-5 together, very short, not longer than 2 lines, 1- 

 flowered. Calyx minute, 4-sepalled : sepals roundish, concave, 

 imbricating. Petals 4, alternating with and much longer than 

 the sepals, oblong, obtuse, concave. Stamens 4, erect, length 

 of the petals, opposite to the sepals : anthers 2-celled, yellow. 

 Ovary conical, yellow, abortive. $ FL Pedicels axillary, about 

 4 together, somewhat longer than the petiole : sepals as in the 

 barren flower but persistent. Petals deciduous. Ovary sub- 

 rotund, green, glabrous : style : stigmata 2-lobed ; lobes ex- 

 panded, slightly bifid. Berry subrotund, or oval, 2-celled, size 

 of a small pea, when ripe scarlet : seeds one in each cell, hemi- 

 spherical. 



SCHiEFFERIA LATERIFLORA of Swartz is the DrYPETIS CRO- 



CEA of Modern Systems, and has been placed among the Eu- 



PHORBIACE.E. 



ORDER LVI. RHAMNE^. 



Calyx with its tube adhering to the ovary, 4-5- 

 cleft, with a valvate aestivation. Petals corresponding 



