XXXVJ, RHAMNE.E. 445 



12. DISCARIA, Hook. 



(Tetrapasma, G» Don,) 



Calyx campariulatc or tuLular above the ovary, sliortly 4- or S-lobed. Petals 

 uood-shaped, inserted with the stamens at the base of \he calyx-lobes or none, 

 otaiiiens 4 or 5, with short filaments, included in the petals when present, 

 i^isk aunular in the base of the calyx-tube, the margin shortly free. Ovary 

 more or less immersed in the disk, 3-lobed, 3-eelled; style slender, with a 

 shortly 3"lobed stigma. Drupe or capsule coriaceous, 3-lol)cd, the endocarp 

 separatmg into 3 2-valved crustaceous cocci. Seeds with a coriaceous testa; 

 albumen fleshy; cotyledons orbicular.— Much-branched rigid shrubs, with 

 opposite, often thorny brauehlets. Leaves small, opposite, 1 -nerved or pen- 

 iiinerved. Stipules and bracts small Tlowers axillary. 



ne genus is chiefly S. American, extratropical or alpine, with one species endemic in 

 Austrdia and another in New ZealanJ. 



J 1- D. australis, lIooJc BoL Misc. i. 157, t. 45. A scrubby, much- 

 oranched, thorny shrub of 1 to 2 ft., usually glabrous. Branches green, 

 ^I'ete, the smaller ones reduced to stout spines of 1 to 1| in. Leaves often 

 jippeariiig- clustered from the shortness of the shoots, oblong or cuncate, ob- 

 Utie or emarginate, rarely exceeding \ in. Pedicels solitary or clustered in 

 lie axils of small leaves, which soon fall ofi' from the very sliort branches, the 

 ouxrs then appearing densely clustered under the spines. Calyx-tid)e 

 l>roa(lly cainpanulate above the disk, the limb spreading to about 2 lines dia- 

 meter. Petals narrow, hood-shaped. Ovary deeply immersed in the disk, 

 pie short free part 3-lobed. Fruit 2 to 3 lines diameter.—Hook. f. Fl.Tasm. 

 ^•^9; lieissek, in Linmea, xxix. 2G6; F. Muell. Fragin. iii. 83; Colldia 

 mescens, Brongn, in Ann. Sc. Nat. x. 36G; Telrapamiajuncaa,G,Don, 

 ^^-a. Syst. 1i. 40; CoUetia Cunhlnghamll, Fejizl, in llucg. Euum. 23. 



N. S. "Wales- Cox's, Macquarie's, and llmilcr's rivers, A. Cnnnhigham; Liverpool 

 Piams, Woolh; Ben Lotnoiid, ^ew England, Beckler. 



Victoria. Grassy lulls and banks, ascending the Lower Alps, Delatiic river, Letwccn 

 ^^on and Cresuick rivers. Snowy Biver, etc., F. Mueller. 



Tasmania. Derwent river U. Brown; Laiineeston road and South Esk river, Gimn; 

 ^reat Swan Port, Backhouse; Brown river, Oldjield. 



OiiDEii XXXVII. AMPELIDE^. 



Flouers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Calyx small, entire or 4- or 

 o-toothed. Petals 4 or 5, free or cohering, valvate in the bud. Stamens 4 

 J^^ 5, opposite tlie petals, inserted on the outside of the disk at its base or 



bet 



^veen its lobes. Uisk free or adnate to the ovary. Ovary usually im- 

 ^ej-sed in or sui-rounded by the disk, more or less perfeetly 2- to 6-celled; 

 ^ty'e short and conical or subuhate, or none ; stigma small, capitute or lobed. 

 Ovules 2 in each cell where there are 2 cells, solitary where there are more 

 c^Us, erect, anatropous, with a ventral raphe. Trait a bcny, the dissepi- 

 J^»euts frequently disappearing. Seeds 1 to 6 ; testa hard, the inner coatmg 

 b'equently peneti'ating into the fissures of the nmiinnfe albmnen. Embryo 

 ^'^oi't,.in the base of the albumen; cotyledons ovalj radicle shorty. inferior. 



