235 



felled for the sake of their timber ; that called Ipe-tabacco furnishes durable 

 ship-timber ; the Ipeuna, another species, the hardest wood in Brazil. Pr. 

 JVIax. Travels, p. 68. Another, called the Pao d'arco, supplies one of the 

 best kinds of woods used for bows by the Brazilian Indians, especially the 

 Botocudos of the Rio Grand de Belmonte, and the Patachos of the Rio do 

 Prado. Ibid. 238. 

 Examples. Bignonia, Jacaranda, Spathodea. 



CCXVIII. MYOPORINEiE. 



Myopoeinje, R. Brown Prodr. 514. (1810.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous dicotyledons, with irregular unsymmetrical 

 flowers, a superior 2- or 4-celled ovarium with definite pendulous ovules, inde- 

 hiscent fruit, a superior radicle, and albuminous seeds. 



Anomalies. 



Essential'Characteb. — Calyx 5-parted, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, 

 nearly equal or 2-lipped. Stamens 4, didynamous, with sometimes the rudiment of a fifth 

 one, which occasionally bears pollen. Ovarium 2- or 4-celled, the cells 1- or 2-seeded, with 

 pendulous ovules; style lj stigma scarcely divided. Fruit a drupe, with a 2- or 4-celled 

 putamen, the cells of which are 1- or 2-seeded. Seeds with albumen ; embryo taper ; radicle 

 superior. — Shrubs, with scarcely any pubescence. Leaves simple, without stipula;, alternate 

 or opposite. Flowers axillary, without bractea?. R. Br. 



Affinities. The principal characters in the fructification of this order, by 

 which it is distinguished from Verbenacere, are the presence of albumen in the 

 ripe seed, and the direction of the embryo, whose radicle always points towards 

 the apex of the fruit. The first of these characters is, however, not absolute, 

 and neither of them can be ascertained before the ripening of the seed. R. 

 Broiun in Flinders, 567. 



Geography. This order, with the exception of Bontia, a genus of equi- 

 noctial America, and of the species of Myoporum, found in the Sandwich 

 Islands, has hitherto been observed only in the southern hemisphere, and yet 

 neither in South Africa nor in South America beyond the tropics. Its maxi- 

 mum is evidently in the principal parallel of Terra Australis, in every part of 

 which it exists ; in the more southern parts of New Holland, and even in Van 

 Diemen's Island, it is more frequent than within the tropics. R. Brown in 

 Flinders, 567. 



Properties. The bark of Avicennia tomentosa, the White Mangrove of 

 Brazil, is in great use at Rio Janeiro for tanning. Pr. JWax. Trav. 206. 



Examples. Mvoporum, Stenochilus, Pholidia, Eremophila. 



CCXIX. SELAGINE.E. 



Selagine*, Juss. Ann. Mus. 7. 71. (1806); Richard in Pers. Synops. 2. 146. (1807); Choisy 



Memoir e, (1823.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous dicotyledons, with irregular unsymmetrical 

 flowers, a superior 2-celled ovarium with definite erect ovules, indehiscent 

 fruit, a superior radicle, albuminous seeds, and alternate leaves. 



Anomalies. 



