M.\LVACE.E. .^TERCL'LIACEAC. 619 



The Order Jfulraci'tc is a lii_u;hly useful oiu? to man. It yields one of the most 

 delicious fruits kuown, hut whieh is unf'ortuuately very rcstrieted in its gcop:rai)hieal 

 range [Durian). Tlie Jfiliiscun saldarijf'a (indigenous to tropii'ul Africa) is, on the 

 other hand, a very widely dill'used plant, yielding a delicious tahlc vegetahlo, whilst 

 nearly every species of the genus yielil a long and fairly strong fihre ada])ted for the 

 nfflnufaeturc of rope or sacking ; and the cotton plant, whereon one of the main 

 industries of Kngland depends, is anotlier meniher of this Order. 



Order STEECULIACE.E. 



Fhtcers regular, hemiaidirodite or unisexual. Sepals 5, more or less (rarely 

 wholly) connate. Petals 5 or none. S/amens usually united into a ring, cup, or 

 tube, many, or rarely few, and free. Antheis 2-celle(l in heads, or in a single ring at 

 the apex, or dispersed on the outside of the staminal column, with or witliout inter- 

 vening staminodes. Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with alternate simple or palmately-lobed, 

 or digitate leaves. Stipules present. 



STERCULIEJE. 

 Flowers miisexiial or poli/fldiiioHS. Petals none. Anthers .5-1.5, sessile, surrounding 

 the stalked orary or in males the top of a shorter or longer eolunin, or shortli/ polyadelphous. 

 Mature carpels distinct, sessile or stalked. 



* Anthers irregularly clustered, numerous. Fruit dehiscent. 

 Steeculia, Linnmus. 

 Ovules 2 or more in each cell. Carpels follicular. 



f Seeds without icings, 2 or more along the suture of the coriaceous carpels, never 

 inserted at the base. 



* Leaves digitate. 



S. Fa:TiDA, L. T. Mixed forests of Pegu Range. 



Let-khok or Lck-kliG. 



Leaves glabrous. Calyx rather largo, the lobes spreading. 



This is probably the species whieh .so unpleasantly obtrudes itself on the 

 traveller's notice, who incautiously halts near one in flower. The odour exhaled 

 by the tree in question resembles the sickening smell of the mucus secreted by the 

 bowels in acute dysenteiy, and once recognized, can never be forgotten. This identity 

 of odour between a normal vegetable secretion and an abnormal animal one, the result 

 of disease, is not a little curious. 



S. VEKSICOLOR, Wall. Ava on limestone hills near Segain. 



Shor-hpyu (Kurz). 



Leaves canescent tomentose beneath. Caly.x small, the lobes conniving, short. 



* * Leaves palmately lubed or cut. Leaf-shedding trees. 



S. ritF.xs, Roxb. Pegu and Tena.sserim. 



Carpels den.sely covered with stiff fragile hairs. Flowers small. 



S. viLLOSA, Roxb. Pegu. Tenasscrim and Audamans. 



Shor-ni. 



Cai-pels shortly tomentose from stellate hail's. 



S. OEK.\TA, Wall. Pegu Range. Tenasscrim. 



Shor-wa. 



Carpels densely covered with stiff short hairs, glabresceut. Flowers nearly j inch 

 in iliameter. 



