XXXII. OIACINE^. 891 



Petals slightly imbricate. Ovules 2, the placenta forming a half-dis- 

 sepimeut on one side of the cavity. Flowers in a narrow raceme-like 

 panicle 



6. ViLLARESIA, 



Tribe I, Olace.e. — Stamens twice as many as petals or fewer, or if the 

 same number as petals, opposite to them. Ovary often 2- or 3-ceUed at the 

 base, 1-celled at least at the top; placenta central, with 2 or 3 pendulous 



1. XIMENIA, Linn. 



Calyx mimitely 4- or S-toothcd, not enlarged after flowering. Petals 

 4 or 5, bearded inside, valvatc in the bud. Stamens twice as many as petals, 

 ii'ee; filaments filiform ; anthers linear, erect. Ovary 3-ceIled at the base; 

 stigma capitate; ovules 3, descending into the incomplete cells from a central 

 placenta. Drupe ovoid or globular^ with a thick sarcocarp. Seed spuri- 

 ously erect; embryo minute, — Shnibs or trees, often thorny. Flowers white, 

 rather large for the Order, in small axillary cymes or solitary. 



-the Australian species is spread over almost all tropical countries, the few other species 

 are American or African. 



1- X. americana, Lif/n.; DC. Frod. i. 533. A glabrous shrub, or 

 sometuues a small tree, with spreading branches, often aimed with axillary 

 spmes (abortive peduncles). Leaves petiolate, ovate, obtuse, or scarcely 

 ^cutc, 1 to 2 in. long, entire, the veins inconspicuous, except the midrib. Pe- 

 duncles short, bcari]»g little cymes of 3 to 7 yellowish sweet-scented flowers, 

 rarely reduced to a single one. Petals 3 to 4 lines long, densely bearded in- 

 SKie with long white hairs. Drupe attaining 1 in. diameter or rather more. 

 --X ellipiica, Forst.; Labill. Sert. Austr. Caled. 34, t. 37; X. laurina, 

 ijjehle, in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, xx. 89 ; X exarmata, F. Muell. in Trans. 

 Plul Inst. Vict. iii. 22. 



■ 



. N. Australia- Ranges of the Suttor and ■Mackenzie rivers, F. MueUer, The species 

 IS Widely spread over the tropical regions of both the New and the Old World, varying in 

 ^Oi^t places with or without thorns. The Pacific and New Caledonian X. elliptica has been 

 distinguuhcd from the common form as having a globular, not elliptical fruit ; but some of 

 Jjarducr's specimens from Brazil have certainly also the fruit globular. F. Jlueller's Aus- 

 tralian specimens, hke the majority of those in our herbaria, arc without fruit; they are 

 Unarmed, or have only small nascent spines in the axils of some of the young leaves. 



2. OLAX, Linn. 



(Speruiaxyrum, LaLill.) 



Calyx small, cup-shaped, truncate, enlarged after flowering and enclosing 

 the fruit. Petals 5 or 6, free, or slightly cohering, valvate in the bud. Sta- 

 mens usually 3, alternate with the petals, the filaments adnate to the petals 

 ^ud connecting them in pairs; staminodia as many as petals and opposite 

 to them, filiform or flat, entire or 2-cleft. Ovary hxQ, 1-celled, or very shortly 

 3-celled at the base; stigma entire or slightly 3-lobed; ovules 3, pendulous 

 TOm a central placenta. Drupe globular or oblong, enclosed in the enlarged 

 calyx, but free from it, the sarcocarp thin. Seed spnriously erect ; embryo 

 ^eiy small in the apex of a fleshy albumen.— Trees, shrubs, or undershrubs, 

 rarely half climbing, the Australian species all erect shrubs, with small alter- 



