530 POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. DiospyrUS. 



tree. Peduncles axillary, drooping, many-flowered. Ca- 

 lyx funnel-shaped: tube a little bellied, and considera- 

 bly longer than the calyx. Border four-parted. Fila- 

 ments, number uncertain, inserted into the very base of 

 the tube of the corol ; some are simple, others two, three, 

 or even four-cleft. Anthers generally about twenty, that 

 is, one on each division of the filaments. 



Female Hermaphrodite Flowers axillary, sub- 

 sessile. Calyx beneath, four-parted, with a callous, elevat- 

 ed, four-lobed, permanent, marginal ring round its mouth, 

 inside villous. Corol; tube cylindric, about as long as 

 the divisions of the calyx. Border four-parted. Fila- 

 ments eight, very short. Anthers small, sterile. Germ 

 conical. Style, shorter than the tube of the corol. Stigma 

 four-parted. Berry nearly globular, succulent, when ripe, 

 yellow, and about the size of a large cherry, resting on 

 the permanent, reflexed calyx; cells, eight is the natu- 

 ral number. Seed, one in each cell semi-ovate, thin on 

 the inner edge, of a light brown colour, and smooth, 

 united at the apex to the central receptacle. 



There are many species of this extensive genus, which 

 yield a hard, black wood. I mean, pure intensely black 

 (not variegated,) to all of which we give the general ap- 

 pellation Ebony; my D. Melanoxylon is one. The spe- 

 cies I am now describing, a second. Ebenus, Rumph. 

 Amb. vol. 3. p. 1. t. 1, seems a third. From all these 

 I know that of the Mauritius differs essentially, by the 

 entire fruit, with ripe seed, just received from that Island, 

 and now before me. The mountains of Bengal, Bootan, 

 and Nepal produce at least another very distinct species, 

 viz. my tonientosum, several young trees of which are now 

 in this garden. 



3. D. melanoxylon. Willd. 4.1109. Corom.pl.l.N.AQ. 



Leaves sub-opposite, oval and oblong, obtuse, villous. 



Male Peduncles from three to six-flowered. Herma- 



