360 



STERCULIACE^. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



Order CXXVI. STERCULIACE^.— Sterculiads. 



Sterculmceae, Vent. Malm. 2. 91. (1799); Endl. Meletem. p. 30.; Gen. ccx. ; Meisner, Gen. p. 28.— 

 Bombacese, Ktinfh. Diss. Malv. p. 5. (1822); DC. Prodr. 1. 475. ; A. St. HUaire Fl. Br. Merid. 

 1. 275 ; Ed. i»: No. 26. (1830); Wight lllustr. 1. p. 66. 



Diagnosis. — Mahal Exogens ^oith columnar stamens all perfect, and 2-celled anthers 



turned outwards. 

 Large trees or shi'ubs. Hairs, if present, stellate. Leaves alternate, simple or com- 

 pound, sometimes digitate, often toothed, with free deciduous stipules. Inflorescence 

 variable. Flowers regular or irregular, frequently $ $ 

 by abortion. Calyx either naked or surrounded with 

 an involucre, consisting of 5 sepals, more or less imited 

 at the base, with a valvate or nearly valvate aestivation, 

 except where the calyx is irregularly ruptva*ed. Petals 5, 

 (or none), hypogynous, convolute in sestivation. Stamens 

 indefinite, monadelphous in various ways ; anthers 

 2-celled, tmnied outwards, sometimes anfractuose. Pis- 

 til consisting of 5, or rarely 3, carpels, either distinct or 

 cohering into a suigle ovary, often seated upon a column- 

 like axis. Styles equal in number to the carpels, distinct 

 or united ; ovules orthotropal or anatropal, erect if defi- 

 nite ; sometimes indefuiite. Fruit capsular, with 3 or 5 

 cells, or even drupaceous or berried, or composed of 

 distinct folhcles, opening by the ventral suture long 

 before the ripening of the seeds. Seeds ovate or angu- 

 lar, sometimes winged or woolly ; albumen oily or 

 fleshy, rarely wantmg ; embryo straiglit or curved ; 

 cotyledons either foliaceous, flat, and plaited, or rolled 

 romid the plumule, or else very tliick, but tliis only in 

 the seeds without albumen ; radicle next the hilum, or 

 at the opposite end of the seed, or even transverse. 



These have the columnar stamens of Mallowworts, 

 and therein exhibit a near approach to that Order ; but 

 theii' anthers are 2-celled, and turned outwards. Ster- 

 culiads also he on the borders of Byttneriads, from 

 which they are readily distinguished by their co- 

 lumnar stamens not being partially sterile, and by 

 the anthers being tm-ned outwards. The Sub-Order 

 Bombacese is remarkable for ha\Tng a tough leathery 

 calyx, which sometimes splits irregularly so as to hide 

 the true manner in which the sepals are arranged. 

 The fruit of Sterculia often exhibits beautiful illustra- 

 tions of the real nature of that form of finiit which 

 Botanists call the follicle, and helps to demonstrate that 

 it, and hence all simple carpels, are formed of leaves, 

 the sides of which are inflexed, and the margins dilated 

 into placentae bearing ovules. In Firmiana platanifolia, 

 in particular, the follicles burst and acquire the form of coriaceous leaves, bearmg the 

 seeds upon then* margin. 



According to Dr. R. Brown, the Sub-Order Sterculese is remarkable for the different 

 positions taken by the radicle within the seed ; although in the majority it is at the extre- 

 mity most remote from the hilum, yet in others it is next the hilum, and in some trans- 

 verse with respect to that pai't, an unusual cii'cumstance in the same Natm'al Order. — 

 PL Javan. p. 224. 



Nearly all the known species are tropical, or at least natives of very warm climates. 

 They are extensively scattered over the world, the Stercidese preferring India and 

 Africa, the Bombacese America ; Helictereae seem to be unkno^^^l in Africa. The 

 Baobab trees are from Senegal, where they are remarkable for their enormous size and 

 prodigious longe\dty, estimated, but no doubt incorrectly, to amount m certain instances to 

 some thousand years. The various species of Bombax and Ceiba are prodigious American 



Fig. CCL.—Helicteres brevispira.— ^. St. HUaire. 1. a column of stamens ; 2. an anther ; 3. a pistil ; 

 4, a ripe fruit. 



Fig. CCL. 



