5y 



2 § Lagershomicftv The. 1. c. p. 70.; Prodi'. 3. 92. (1828.) 



Lobes of the calyx exactly valvate in aestivation. Petals several, alternate 

 with the lobes of the calyx, and arising from between them in the apex of the 

 tube. Stamens two or three times as numerous, and arising from lower down 

 the tube. Seeds with a membranous wing. — Shrubs or trees. Dec. 



Geography. The Lagerstromias are all Indian oi South American. The 

 true Salicaria! are European, North American, and natives of the tropics of 

 both hemispheres. Lylhrum Salicaria, a common European plant, is singular 

 for being found in New Holland, and for also being the only species of that or- 

 der, yet described from that country. 



Properties. Astringency is a property of the Lythrum Salicaria, which 

 is reputed to have been found useful in inveterate diarrhosas ; another species 

 of the same genus is accounted in Mexico astringent and vulnerary. The 

 flowers of Lythrum 1 Hunteri are employed in India, mixed with Morinda, 

 for dyeing, under the name of Dhawry. Hunter Jls. Res. 4. 42. Heimia 

 salicifolia, a plant remarkable, in an order with red or purple flowers, for its 

 yellow corolla, is said to excite violently perspiration and the urinary secretion. 

 The Mexicans consider it a potent remedy for venereal diseases, and call it 

 Hanchinol. Dec. Lawsonia inermis is the plant from which the Henne 

 of Egypt is obtained. Women in that country stain their fingers and feet 

 with it. It is also used for dyeing skins and maroquins reddish yellow, and for 

 many other purposes. It contains no tannin. Ed. P. J. 12. 416. The leaves 

 of Ammannia vesicatoria have a strong muriatic smell; they are extremely 

 acrid, and are used by the native practitioners of India to raise blisters, in rheu- 

 matism, &c. : bruised and applied to the part intended to be blistered, they per- 

 form their office in half an hour, and most effectually. Ainslie, 2. 93, 



Examples. Lythrum, Lagerstromia, Ammannia. 



LIII. RHIZOPHOREiE. The Mangrove Tribe. 



ItinzoriionE*:, /.'. Brown Gen. Rem. in Minders, p. 17. (1814) ; in Congo, p. 18. (1818) ; Dec. 

 Prodr. 3. 31. (1828.)— Paletuviers, Savigny in Lam. Diet. 4. 696. (1796.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with perigynous stamens twice the 

 number of the petals, concrete carpclla, an inferior ovarium of 2 cells wiih 

 pendulous ovules, and opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipulse. 



Anomalies. The leaves of Baraldeia have pellucid dots. In Cassipourea 

 the ovarium is superior, and the seeds have albumen. 



Essential Character. — Calyx superior, very rarely nearly inferior, with the lobes vary- 

 ing 1 in number from 4 to 13, occasionally all cohering 1 in a calyptia. Petals arising from the 

 calyx, alternate with the lobes, and equal to them in number. Stamens arising from the 

 same point as the petals, and twice or thrice their number ; filaments distinct ; anthers erect, 

 innate. Ovarium 2-celled, each cell containing 2 or more pendulous ovules. Fruit indehis- 

 cent, crowned by the calyx, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Seed pendulous, without albumen; radicle long; 

 cotyledons 2, flat. — Coast trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, opposite, entire or toothed with sti- 

 puke between the petioles. Peduncles axillary. 



Affinities. From a consideration of the structure of Carallia and Legnotis 

 Mr. Brown has been led to conclude that we have a series of structures con- 

 necting Rhizophora, on the one hand, with certain genera of Salicaria?, parti- 

 cularly with Anthcrylium, though that genus wants the intermediate stipules ; 

 and, on the other, with Cunoniaceee, especially with the simple-leaved species, 



