LAURACEiE. 



shaped, with an obconical equal deciduous* tube. Fertile sta- 

 mens 9, in 3 rows, the 3 inner furnished with a distinct stalked 

 gland on each side. Anthers oblong, glandular at the point, 

 2-celled, the 6 outer looking inwards, the 3 inner outwards. 

 Sterile stamens 3, stalked, with a long sharp head, belonging to 

 the inner whorl. Stigma discoidal ; ovary immersed in the tube 

 of the calyx. Caryopsis covered by the lobeless closed tube 

 of the calyx, and united to it. Leaf buds with a few coriaceous 

 keeled scales. Leaves 3-nerved, or 3-plenerved. 



687. C. densiflora Blume in Nees Laurin. 228. — Kiteja or 

 Kitedja Javanese. — Woods from 1400 to 1800 feet above the 

 sea on the West of Java. 



A tree 60-80 feet high. Young branches round, smooth, very dark 

 green ; at first covered with a short ochre-coloured downiness. Leaves 

 3-nerved or triple-nerved, elliptical-oblong, bluntly cuspidate, smooth, 

 glaucous beneath. Panicles corymbose, axillary, dense. Fruit globose, 

 furrowed on the summit. — Bark brownish, tonic, containing a great 

 quantity of bitter somewhat balsamic extractive matter. Leaves grate- 

 fully aromatic ; they are used in infusion, like tea, against spasms of 

 the bowels, and the convulsive affections of pregnant women. Blume. 



MESPILODAPHNE. 



Dioecious ? Calyx 6-cleft ; tube obconical, segments equal, 

 permanent. Fertile stamens 9, in 3 rows, the 3 inner with 

 2 sessile globose glands at the base. Anthers 4-celled ; the 6 

 outer ovate and looking inwards, the 3 inner narrower and 

 looking outwards. Sterile stamens in 1 species forming a fourth 

 row, with a distinct stalk and a cordate-lanceolate head. Stigma 

 depressed, capitate. Fruit succulent, enclosed from the first in 

 the thick corky fleshy tube of the calyx, and covered over by 

 its converging segments ; eventually exposed at the point by 

 the falling or rubbing off of the segments. — Flowers panicled. 



688. M. pretiosa Nees Laurin. 237. — Laurus Quixos Lam. enc. 



iii. 455 Woods near Para; Maypure. Pao or Casca pretiosa 



Portuguese. 



A tree. Branches smooth, when young angular ; their bark when 

 old split lengthwise and cracked across till it looks as if tessellated. 

 Leaves from 5-7 inches long, 1^-2 inches broad, oblong, tapering into 

 an obtuse point, acute at the base, smooth, papery, shining, with pin- 

 nated veins. Flowers and flower-stalks all smooth. Ripe fruit small, 

 marked at the vertex by a circular scar denoting the place from which 

 the limb of the calyx fell ; very much like a small fig. — Inner bark 

 and the rind of the calyx of a most sweet odour and agreeable taste, 

 resembling Cinnamon mixed with Orange-flowers, or oil of Bergamot. 



* Nees v. Esenbeck states the character thus " tubo obconico aequali deciduo ;" but I 

 cannot reconcile it with the tube of the calyx eventually enclosing the fruit. 



334 



