484 COMBRETACEiE. Conocarpus. 



Hat. — Trees or shruba, with simple opposite leaves, and stipules 

 between the petioles. Am. 



1. RHIZOPHOPvA. Linn. ; Gcertn.fr. t. 45; Lam. ill. t. 396. 



Tube of the calyx obovate, coherent with the ovary; the limb divided into 

 4 oblong persistent segments. Petals oblong, emarginate, coriaceous, condu- 

 pUcate, and when young embracing the alternate stamens, the margins each 

 with a double row of long woolly hairs. Stamens twice as many as the 

 petals : anthers nearly sessile, large, linear-oblong. Ovary 2-celled, with 2 

 ovules in each cell: style conical, short, 2-furrowed: stigma 2-toothed. 

 Fruit ovate or oblong, crowned near the base with the persistent segments of 

 the calyx, longer than the tube, at length perforated at the apex by the radi- 

 cle of the germinating embryo. — Trees, with entire leaves, and axillary 

 inflorescence. Am. 



1. R. Mangle (Linn.) : leaves obovate-oblong, obtuse ; peduncles 2-3-flow- 

 ered, longer than the petiole; germinating embryo subulate-clavate. — Catesh. 

 Car. 2. t. 63; DC.prodr. 3. j;. 32. 



Maritime swamps of Louisiana! Florida! &c. Flowers pale yellow.— 

 Mangrove. — The species of Mangrove abound on the tropical shores of the 

 ocean ; tlie embryo germinating while within the pericarp, takes root in the 

 mud, and dense maritime thickets are produced. 



Order LV. COMBRETACEiE. R. Br. 



Sepals united into a 4-5-lobed calyx ; the limb deciduous. Petals 

 4-5, inserted on the calyx alternate with its lobes, often wanting. 

 Stamens inserted with the petals, twice or sometimes thrice as many 

 as the lobes of the calyx, or rarely equal to them in number : fila- 

 ments distinct. Ovary coherent with the tube of the calyx, 1-celIed, 

 with 2-5 suspended ovules in each cell : style 1, slender : stigma 

 simple. Fruit drupaceous, baccate, or dry and indohiscent, and often 

 winged. Seed by abortion solitary, anatropous, without albumen. 

 Cotyledons foliaceous, convolute or variously folded, rarely fleshy and 

 plano-convex. — Trees or shrubs, (tropical) with alternate or oppo- 

 site mostly entire exstipulate leaves. Spikes axillary or terminal. 



1. CONOCARPUS. Gcertn.fr. t. 177; DC. prodr. 3. p. 16. 



Flowers densely aggregated on a globular or oblong receptacle. Calyx- 

 tube about the length of the ovary, or longer, persistent ; the limb 5-cleft. 

 Petals none. Stamens 5-10, exserted: anthers cordate. Ovary compressed, 

 2-ovuled. Fruits coriaceous and scale-like, closely imbricated, indehiscent. 

 Cotyledons spirally convolute. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire. 

 Heads of flowers peduncled. 



