Nerium. pentandria monogynia. 3 



timber tree; the wood white, remarkably light, but Thmi, 

 and much used by Turners to make palkees, &,c. where 

 lif;ht, strong wood is required. 



Stem (ill phints six or seven years old) short, but 

 straight, and to the base decorated with numerous patent 

 branches and branchlets. Bark of the ligneous pairs ash- 

 coloured and smooth ; whole height from six to ten feet. 

 Lactescent. Leaves opposite, very short-petioled, bifa- 

 rious, ovate oblong, entire, long, taper-pointed, smooth on 

 both sid< s, dark green, from two to six inches long, and 

 from one to two and a half broad. Stipules, sosne short 

 bristles in the axill of the leaves. Flowers terininal, soli- 

 tary, tern, twice tern, or more, with one in the forks, 

 short peduncled, and pedicelled, large, of a deep, but ra- 

 ther dull red. Bractes opposite, lanceolate, waved. 

 Calyx divided to the base into five, nearly equal, sub- 

 cordate, smooth .segments, with somewhat waved mar- 

 gins. Corol ; tube very short, fleshy, sub-campanulate. 

 Border divided into five, obliquely obovate, thick, tough 

 segments, soon after expansion they become revolute. 

 Nectarium five-lobed ; crimson-coloured ; lobes with 

 rounded, somewhat crenulate margins, and firmly unit- 

 ed to the base of the segments of the corol. Filaments 

 very short and thick, inserted on the nmuth of the tube 

 of the corol, w ithin the nectary. Anthers sagittate, united 

 and forming a conic dome over the stigma. Germ two- 

 lobed; each lobe one-celled, with numerous seeds at- 

 tached to the incurved margins of tlie suture on the in- 

 side. Style cylindric. Stiyma with two-lobed apex. 

 Follicles two, linear, about as thick as the little finger, 

 and nearly tvNclve inches long, olive-coloured, but ren- 

 dered rough with elevated white specks. .S'eeJs numer- 

 ous, imbricated, linear-lanceolar, with very ample coma, 

 pointing to the base of the follicle. Integuments two, 

 the exterior one rather thick; the interior one a thin 

 membrane adhering to the embryo. Perisperm none 



\ 2 



