1 



f 



^ff^^^^'] XXXI. MELIACE^. 383 



Leaves piiiziate, with entire leaflets. Flowers veiy small, nearly globular, in 

 axillary panicles. 



ii '^p^ ?fi^^^ ^^ dispersed over tropical Asia and the islands of the Indian Archipelago and 

 tue Pacific. The only Australian species is also a native of New Caledonia and New Guinea, 



^ 1. A. elaeagnoidea, BentL A tree of 20 to 30 ft., the young branches, 

 inflorescence, and under side of the leaves covered with silky or rust-coloured 

 scurfy scales, often fringed at the edges. Leaflets 3 or rarely 5, petioluhite, 

 ovate-oblong, or the terminal one obovate, acuminate, rarely ovate-lanceolate, 

 f^ to 3 iu, long or rarely more, coriaceous, glabrous above when full-grown. 

 -T lowers globular, about 1 line diameter, numerous in loose panicles Avhich 

 Rarely exceed the leaves. Calyx shoiily 5-, rarely 4.1obed. Petals 5, rarely 

 4, much imbricate, sprinkled as well as the ovarj^ with the scurfy scales that 

 cover the calyx and inflorescence. Anthers usually 5, but in some flowers 6, 

 7,^ or even more, within the short urceolate tube, which is thickened into 

 raised filaments below the anthers. Ovaiy 3-celled, with 1 (or sometimes 2 ?) 

 ovules in each cell, rruit obovoid, about 1 in. long, covered with minute 

 rust-coloured scurfy scales. Seeds 1 or 2, enveloped in a mealy pulp.—iV-e- 

 ^edra eUagyioidea] K. Juss. in Mem. Mus. Par. xix. 259, t. 14; Aglaia odo- 

 rahmma, Benth. in Hook, Lond. Jouiti. ii. 213, but probably not of Blume. 



„ ^'Australia. Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, B., Brown (specimens in fruit and 

 th \T ' -^^^^^^^^^ Island, Endeavour Straits, Leichhardt, Found also in New Caledonia, 

 liie New Hebrides, and in New Guinea. The station. King George's Sound, given by A. de 



ussieu on the authority of the Paris ITerhariuni, is evidently one of those errors of locality 

 Which occurs iu many of the early collections of Australian plants deposited there. A. de 



u^tiicu having found as many as 10 stamens, gives that as the typical nuniLcr, although he 

 serves at the same time that there are sometimes fewer. ^Ve, therefore, not having then 

 any Australian specimniis, failed to recognize his pkml, and from the technical characters re- 

 erred it in our ' Genera Plantarum' to Amoara, Having since, hovvevei', examiiieJ Lcith- 



ardtsand R. Brown's Australian specimens, and also s'ome flowers from A. de Jussieu*s 

 fpccimens, kindly transmitted to me by M. Erongniart, I have been able satisfactonly to 

 joentify the species, which, notwithstanding an occasional increase in the number of stamens, 

 Deloii^rs undoubtedly to Aghiia, a ^iiv'^ uatui'al genus if extended so as to include M'tlnea, 

 In the majority of specimens examined I find almost always 5 stameus, and only now and 

 Jnen G. Out of three uncxpaudcd flowers from A. de Jussieu's plant, I found 7 stamens in 

 ^wo of them, and only 5 iu the third. 



5, AMOOBA, Roxb. 



, Flowers polygamous. Calyx 3- to 5-tootlied or lobed. Petals 3 to 5, 

 inibricate in the bud, free from the staminal tube. Staminal tnlie urceolate or 

 nearly globular, truncate or crenate ; anthers ivithin the tube, twice as many 

 ^s petals. Disk none, besides the thickened base of the ovary. Ovary 3 to 

 5-celled or rarely 2-cclled, with 1 or 2 supciT)oscd ovules in each cell; style 

 short or long with a disk-like stigma. Capsule obovoid or globular, coria- 

 <?eous or hard, opening loculicidally in 3 to 5 valves (or sometimes indehis- 



cent ?), 



(or sonictuncs 



Seeds solitary in each cell, enclosed in a fleshvanlhi.s 

 ^itHout an arillus ?).— Trees. Leaves pinnate, with entire leaflets. Flowers 

 swiall, but usually larger than in Jglaia, 



. The genus is spread over tropical Asia and the Indian Archipelago ; the Australian species 

 ^s endemic. 



1- A. nitidula, Benth. A tall tree, quite glabrous. Leaflets 2 or 4, 



