STntACE.E. EBEXACEJE. 357 



Several species of fii/mplocos yield yello-w dyes, and can lie used as a substitute 

 for tea. Storax and Benzoiu are two balsams containin-^ Benzoic acid, the former 

 produced by Sli/ra.r officiiiaJe, the latter by <S'. Benzoin, u tree of the Moluccas, which 

 Mason includes with doubt in liis list. 



Order EBEN.\CE.E. 



Flowers regular, usually di(peious, rarely liei-niaphrodite. Calyx 3- to 7-lobed, 

 persistent, in the females usually enlarging. Corolla gauiopetalous, deciduous, 

 3-7-lobcd, the lobes always siuistrorsely convolute-imbrieate in bud. Stamens in 

 the females either none, or as many as corolla-lobes, distinct, and inserted at the 

 base of the corolla-tube ; in the males 6 or more, usually 1 G distinct or often united 

 by pairs, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube, or rarely hypogynous, or partly 

 inserted in the corolla, partly on the torus, the inner series usually shorter or wanting. 

 Filaments short, usually pilose and ligulate. Anthers basifi.xed, 2-celled, opening 

 by longitudinal slits. Orarij 3-14-celled, the cells with a solitary or 2 collateral 

 ovules, suspended from the summit of the inner angle. Sti/les half the nuuiber of 

 the cells, and 2-lobed or as many as cells, and simple. Berrij often by abortion 

 few-celled and few-seeded, fleshy or coriaceous, the rind sometimes rupturing into 

 as many valves as ealy.x-lobes. Seeds pendulous, usually solitary in the cells, often 

 compressed, the testa smooth coriaceous. Albumen horny, homogeneous or ruminate. 

 Embryo axilc or somewhat obliiiue, straight or curved at the apex. The cotyledons 

 leafy, nearly as long as the superior cylindrical radicle. Trees or shrubs, rarely 

 under shrubs, with alternate or very rarely almost opposite simple leaves, the juice 

 wtitery. Sfipulrs none. Flowers in axillary or rarely terminal cymes, the females 

 usually larg(!r and turning solitary by abortion of the lateral flowers. 



The fruits of several species of Biospyros are edible when perfectly ripe, but 

 their chief utility is as a tanuiug material, and dressing for fishermen's nets and lines, 

 especially B. em'bryopteris, which coats them with a glistening varnish. Dr. Mason 

 remarks, " The eeicbrated Shan vegetable black dye is made from the fruit of a species 

 of ebony, which is said to grow on the mountains that separate the province of Tavoy 

 from the Siamese territories. Isolated plants may bo seen in the gardens of Tuvoy 

 and Maulmain, but I have never seen one in flower or fruit." This is B. mollis. 

 The ebony of commerce is the heartwood of more than one species of Biospyros, the 

 best being yielded by the Mauritian B. reticulata, and the next best by B. ehnwn. 

 All species, however, do not possess black heartwood. 



f Ovary-cells with 2 ovules. 



Maba, Forster. 



Calyx- and corolla-lobes usually triuierous. Ovary-cells usually as many as 

 corolla-lobes. 



* Ovary G-cclled, the cells \-ovuled. 



M. ]\[KiuiriKNsis, Iliern. Mergui. 



Glabrous or nearly so. Ovary glabrous. 



I separate the species with 1-ovulate and 2-ovuIate ovary-cells, and from this 

 point of view the above species, which has 1-ovulate ovary-cells a])pareutly twice 

 as numerous as the floral parts, cannot be a true Maba, but nuiy be referable to 

 Biospyros. I have seen no specimens of it (Kurz). 



* * Ovary 'i-celled, densely pubescent. 

 M. BuxiFOLiA, U.C. Tenasseiim. 



Jf. Neilyherrensis, Wight. 

 M. ebenus, Wight. 



Leaves small, glabrous. Berries globular, the size of a pea. 



M. (Makckkightia) Axdamaxica, Kz. The Andamans. Tillangchong. Xicobars. 



Leaves large, hirsute along the nerves beneath. Berries oblong, more than an 

 inch long. 



