61 



* MARLEA begonifolia. 

 Begonia-leaved Marlea. 



SYNGENESIA MONOGAMIA. 



Nat. ord. AlangiacE/E. 



MARLEA, Roxb. Calyx 6-dentatus. Petala 6. Stamina 6, per 

 paria cohasrentia; antheris linearibus, obtusis, in tubum connatis ; filamentia 

 basi foveatis. Stigma 4-lobum. Drupa. 



M. begonifolia. Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2. 261. 



A small tree inhabiting Sylhet, where it yields a timber 

 employed by the natives in the construction of their houses, 

 flowering in April and ripening fruit in July, according to 

 Dr. Roxburgh. 



It has long been in our gardens ; I have before me a 

 specimen, dried in the Cambridge Botanic Garden by Donn, 

 at least as early as the year 1805 ; it has, however, not found 

 its way before into any work containing figures of plants. 



It is a stove shrub, of no great beauty in its flowers, but 

 with a good healthy foliage, and is at once recognized by 

 the leaves being oblique at the base, with red petioles and 

 reddish veins. Its chief interest consists in its forming an 

 illustration of the small natural order called Alangiacese. 



Roxburgh describes the fruit as a drupe with a two- 

 celled nut. I have however found only one pendulous ovule 

 in the ovary, as is shewn at fig. 3. 



Fig. 1. represents a pair of anthers united, with a large 

 excavation or pit at the base of their common filament ; 



* Marlea is the vernacular name in Sylhet. — Roxb. 



