LEGUMINOS^. 235 



1. Suriana maritima. Sea-side Suriana. 



Thymelaese facie frutex niaiitimus tetraspermus, Sloane, II. 

 29. t. 162. f. 4. — Suriana maritima, Browne, 190. — Jacq. Arner. 

 140.— Swartz, Obs. 185.— Z)e Cand. Prod. II. 91. 



HAB. Sea-shore at Plantain Garden River bay. 



FL. June. 



A shrub, >5 feet in height, erect : branches terete, tomentose, 

 afterwards from lacerations of the cuticle reticulato-tomentose. 

 Leaves numerous, crowded at tlie ends of the branchlets, ob- 

 longo-spathulate, attenuated towards the base, rounded with a 

 small apicula at the apex, entire, veinless, nerveless, thick, sub- 

 velutino-pubescent (witii the hairs slightly hooked) : petiole 

 very short. Stipules none. Peduncle subterminal and axillary, 

 about 5-flowered, scarcely longer than the leaves. Flowers 

 small, yellow, pedicelled. Bracteas small, leaflike, at the divi- 

 sions of the peduncle. Calyx 5-partite ; divisions erect, lan- 

 ceolate, acute, sericeo-pubescent. Petals 5, slightly clawed, 

 rounded at the apex, length of the calyx. Stamens 5, hypogy- 

 noiis : filaments subulate, villous at the base, with the remains 

 of 5 others which are abortive : anthers ovate, yellow. Carpels 

 5, albido- villous, each bearing a style from the inner side; 

 stigmata obtuse. Capsules contained within the persistent calyx, 

 5, pubescent ; each one-seeded. 



This is considered by Jacquin as an elegant shrub. It is a 

 native of the shores of the warmer parts of America and India, 

 of New Caledonia and the West-India islands. The specimens 

 from New Caledonia are usually decandrous. 



ORDER LXIII. LEGUMINOSiE. 



Calycine sepals 5, more or less coalescing at the 

 base so as to be either 5-dentate, 5-ficl, or 5-partite, 

 but never in the strict sense 5-sepalIed. Petals 5, 

 or by abortion, 4, 3, 2, 1, or none; in general unequal, 

 inserted into the base of the calyx, rarely on the 

 torus. Stamens inserted with, and double the number 

 of the petals, or rarely 3 or 4 times the number, 

 or fewer, either free, or with the fihmients variously 

 connected so as to be monadelphous, diadelphous (9 

 and 1 or 5 and 5), or rarely triadelphous. Ovary 

 simple. Fruit a legume or drupe. Seeds attached 

 to the ujoper suture ; embryo destitute of albumen. 



