EUPHORBIALES.] 



SCEPACE^. 



283 



Order XCI. SCEPACEiE.— Scepads. 



-Forestiereae, Endl. p. 288 ; 



Scepaceae, Ed. pr. p. 171. (1836); Endl. Gen. p. 288 ; Meisner, p. 347. 



Mcisner, p. 257. 



Diagnosis.— EiqyJiorbial Fxogcns, lolth $ amentaceous flowers^ definite suspended anatropal 

 ovules, and a superior radicle. 

 Trees. Leaves coriaceous, alternate, with membranous stipules which form the scales 

 of the buds. Flowers ^ $ — ^ amentaceous. Calyx 4.5-leaved, imbricated, very 



minute and membranous. Stamens 2-5 ; fila- 

 ments short, straight, not elastic ; anthers 2- 

 celled, opening by longitudmal parallel su- 

 tures ; connective inconspicuous. $ in short 

 axillary racemes. Calyx of six sepals in two 

 whorls, free ; the inner ones in one species at 

 least 3-lobed. Ovary 2-celled ; style ; stig- 

 ma with two short emaa'ginate lobes, or with 

 4 equal fringed ones ; o\'viles in pairs, collate- 

 ral, pendulous, anatropal, with a broad scale 

 projectmg from the placenta and covering 

 over the foramen ; theu' ends often buried in 

 bail's projecting from the base of the cell. 

 [In Lepidostachys Roxburghii the capsule is 

 round, two-celled, 4-valved ; the endoearp 

 thin, tough, and separable from the friable 

 sarcocarp. Seeds single or two, enveloped 

 in a succulent aril ; embryo gi'een in the axis 

 of albumen, with obovate cotyledons and a 

 radicle next the hilum. — Roxb.] 



Here it is that the Euphorbial Alhance 

 touches the Amental ; for the plants of the 

 Scepad order may be regarded as Amentaceous 

 Spurgeworts. In their male state they have 

 much the aspect of Mastworts or Birchworts, 

 and one of them has actually been considered 

 an Alnus by Roxburgh ; but the females have 

 more the appearance of Antiaris, or of some 

 such Urtical genus. The fruit, which is 

 very remai-kable, I only know from Rox- 

 burgh's account, the substance of which is 

 quoted from the Flora Indica. The manner 

 in which the plates of the placenta overlap 

 the foramen (I beheve not till after impregnation) is exceedingly curious ; these are no 

 doubt what ultimately become the aril. In the genus Scepa the ends of the o^-ules are 

 bui'ied in a thick mass of hairs proceeding from the placentary suture near the base of 

 the cell. Forestiera does not appear to differ from Scepads more than the genera of 

 Spurgeworts from each other. It has no aril, and its fniit is indehiscent ; but 

 it is amentaceous. Piptolepis of Bentham, placed next it by Endlicher, seems to me 

 very different, on accovmt of its hermaplirodite flowers. 

 Natives of the tropical forests of India. 



The wood of the Kokra, Lepidostachys Roxburghii, is very hard, and is used for 

 various economical purposes. 



GENERA. 



Scepa, Lindl. 

 Lepidostachys, Wall. 

 Hymenocardia, Wall. 

 Forestiera, Poir. 



Bigeloma, Smith. 



Borya, Willd. 



Adelia, L. C. Rich. 



Fig. CXCV. 



Position. 



Numbers. Gex\. 3. Sp. 6. 

 BetulacecB. 

 -Euphorbiacese. — Scepaceae. — 



Fig. CXCV.- Scepa viUosa. 1. a cluster of g catkins ; 2. a ^ branch ; 3. a ^^ flower; 4. its calyx , 

 .5. an ovary J 6. a cross section of it; 7. the ovules in situ; 8. one of them forced downwards. 



