400 



CLUSIACE^. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



Order CXLIV. CLUSIACE^.— Guttifers. 



Guttiferae, Jim. Gen. 243. (1789) ; DC. Prodr. 1. 557. (1824) ; Meisrm; i). 42 ; Wight Illustr. 1. 114 ; 

 Cambessedes, Memoirc (1828).— Clusiacese, Ed. i:>r. Iv. (1836). 



Diagnosis. — Giittiferal Exogens, with simple opposite leaves, without stipules, symmetncal 



Jloivers, equilateral petals, adnate beakless anthers, solitary or feio seeds, and sessile 



radiating stigmas. 



Trees or shrubs, occasionally parasitical, jdelding resinous juice. Leaves without 



stipules, opposite, coriaceous, entire, with a strong midrib, and often -ndth the lateral 



veins running through to the margin. Flowers usually numerous, axillary, or terminal. 



Fig. CCLXXXII. 



white, pink, or red, articulated with their peduncle, ^ or J $ by abortion. Sepals 2, 

 4, 5, 6, or 8, imbricated by alternate pairs, usually persistent, round, membranous, fre- 

 quently imequal and coloui'ed like petals. Petals hT^'pogjTious, equal in number to the 

 sepals, or the same power, and sometimes passing insensibly into them. Stamens nu- 

 merous, either distinct, or combined in one or more parcels, hj^ogynous, rarely definite ; 

 filaments of various lengths ; anthers adnate, burstmg inwards, sometimes very small, 

 occasionally bursting outwards, sometimes 1 -celled, and sometimes opening by a pore or 

 transversely ; even immersed in a fleshy receptacle. Disk fleshy, occasionally 5-lobed. 

 Ovary solitary, superior, 1 - or many-celled ; ovules sohtary, orthotropal or anatropal, 

 {Endl.), erect, or ascending, or nmnerous and attached to central placentae ; style none, 

 or very shoi*t ; stigma peltate, or radiate. Fruit either di'y or succulent, 1- or many-celled, 

 1 - or many-seeded, dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds frequently nestlmg in pulp ; their 

 coat thin and membranous ; always wingless ; very frequently with an aril ; albu- 

 men none ; embryo straight ; cotyledons thick, inseparable ; ra(hcle either turned to or 

 fi'om the hilum. 



Theh' opposite coriaceous leaves, broken- whorled calyxes, equilateral petals, mdefinite 

 stamens, and sessile radiant stigmas, must be regarded as the main features of the 

 Guttifers, to which may usually, though not always, be added the bmary aiTange- 

 ment of their calyx and corolla. If these are neglected the Order merges' in that of 

 Tutsans. Dr. Wight has indeed proposed to send into that Order Clusia and all the 

 other genera having the calyx and corolla arranged in fives ; but to this proposition 

 there are great objections ; not the least of which must be the destruction of the precise 

 character of both the Orders. The reader is, however, referred to that excellent Bota- 

 nist's work above quoted, for an explanation of the reasons which have led him to this 

 conclusion. It is not a Uttle remarkable, that a strong tendency to the separation of 

 sexes should be foimd among plants so high m the scale of organisation as these are. 



Fig. CCLXXXII.— Cambogia gutta. 1, a ? flower, with the sterile stamens surrounding the pistil ; 

 2. a (3 flower; 3. an anther, which opens bv throwing off' a cap, in consequence of transversedehiscence ; 

 4. a transverse section of the ovary. 



