Saxifragalks.] 



CUNONIACE^. 



571 



OiwFM CCXVI. CUNONIACEiE.— C 



UNONIAUS. 



Cimonacese, R. Br. in Flinders, 648. (1814) ; Don in Edinb. New Phil. Journ. June 1830, in part; 

 Martius Conspectus, Xo. 223. ; Endl. Gen. p. 819.— Ochranthaceap, Ed. pr.p. 78. (1836) ; Endl. Gen. 

 p. 1035. 



Diagnosis. — Saanfragal Exogen^, with distinct styles, and opposite leaves ivith large 



interpetiolar stipules. 



Trees oi* shrubs. Leaves opposite, compomid or simple, with stipules between the 

 leafstalks, sometimes united and scale-like, sometimes separate and leafy. Calyx 4 or 



Fig. CCCLXXXVII. 



.5 -cleft, half superior or nearly inferior. Petals 

 4 or 5, occasionally wanting. Stamens peri- 

 gynous, definite, or 00 ; anthers bm'stmg 

 longitudinally or by pores. Ovary 2-celled, 

 Fig. CCCLXXXVI. the cells having 2 or many seeds ; styles 2, 



sometimes combined. Fruit 2-celled, capsu- 

 lar or iudehiscent. Embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen. 



This Order is no doubt very distinct from that of Saxifrages, and yet it is more 

 readily distrnguLshed by the widely different habit than by any very important charac- 

 ters in the fructification. The shinibby way of growth and remarkable mterpetiolar 

 stipules are the principal character. Don supposed the Order to be strictly alhed to 

 Philadelphads. The genus Ochranthe, described in the Botanical Register, (Dec. 1835), 

 as agreeing with Tutsans in ha\ing imbricated sepals, hypogynous petals and stamens, 

 partly disjoined carpels, and in some degree in habit, but differing in having definite 

 stamens (5), stipules, and serrated leaves, but whose fruit is unknown, seems, upon the 

 whole, to form a member of the Order of Cunoniads. 



Natives of the Cape, South America, and the East Indies ; common m Australasia. 

 A Weinmannia is used in Peni for tannmg leather, and its astringent bark is em- 

 ployed to adulterate the Penivian bark. The Indian Weinmannias appear to possess 



Fig. rcCLXXXVI.— Weinmannia Balbisiana.-r«/-W"- 1. its ovary. , „ ^f u« r,iQtil 



Fig. CCCLXXXVII.-Ochranthe arguta. 1. grain of pollen ; 2. perpendicular section of its pistil. 



