584 



HIPPOCRATEACE^. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



Order CCXXIV. HIPPOCRATEACE^.— Hippocrateads. 



Hippocraticeffi, Juss. Ann. Mus. 18. 483. (1811).— Hippocrateaceae, Kunth in Humb. N. G. Am. 5. 136. 

 (1821) ; DC. Prodr. 1. 567 ; Endl. Gen. ccxxx-vli. ; Meisner, p. 56; Wight lllustr. 1. 132. 



Diagnosis. — Bhamnal Exogens j with polypetalous floivers, an imhricated calyx,and 3 mono- 



delphous stameTis. 



^ Arborescent or climbing slrmbs, which are ahnost always smooth. Leaves opposite, 

 simple, entire or toothed, somewhat coriaceous, \\-ith small deciduous stipules. Racemes 



axillary, in corj-mbs or fascicles. Flowers small, 

 inconspicuous. Sepals 5, very small, imbricated, 

 combined as far as the middle, persistent. 

 Petals 5, somewhat imbricated in aestivation. 

 Stamens 3 ; filaments cohering almost as far as 

 the apex into a tube dilated at the base, and 

 forming about the ovary a tliick disk-Hke cup ; 

 anthers opening transversely at the apex. 

 Ovary free, concealed by the tube, 3-celled ; 

 style 1 ; stigmas 1-3 ; o>'ules ascending, anatro- 

 pal or half anatropal . Fruit either consisting 

 of 3 samaroid carpels, or berried, with from 1 to 

 3 cells. Seeds in each cell definite, attached to 

 the axis in pairs, some of them occasionally 

 abortive, sometimes buried in pulp, erect, -with- 

 out albumen ; embryo straight ; radicle pointing 

 towards the base ; cotyledons flat, elliptical ob- 

 long, somewhat fleshy, cohering when di'ied. 



The ternary number of the stamens, 



combined with pentamerous petals 

 and sepals, is the prominent charac- 

 teristic of tliis Order, which was 

 formerly included among Maples by 

 Jussieu, wliich is placed between 

 Er}-thoxyls and Marcgi-aaA-iads by 

 De CandoUe, but which is, to all 

 appearance, much more neai'ly re- 

 lated to Spindle-trees, as BrowTi has 

 remarked ; for " the insertion of the 

 o\Tiles is either towards the base, or 

 is central ; the direction of the 

 radicle is always mferior." — Congo j 

 427. In fact there seems to be 

 nothing to di\ade Hippocrateads 

 from Spindle-trees except the cohesion of the filaments of the former into a cup. The 

 samaroid fmit, which is so remarkable, and which connects the Order with Malpighiads, 

 is not universal, but merely characteristic of certain genera. In Hippocratea ovata the 

 testa and cotyledons are furnished in the mside with innumerable spu-al thi'eads; the same 

 economy has been remarked by Du Petit Thenars in the pericarp of Calypso. Accord- 

 ing to Endhcher, the genera Eleeodendron and Ptelidium among Spindle-trees, connect 

 that Order with Hippocrateads. 



The piincipal part are South American, about one-seventh ai'e natives of Africa or 

 the Mamntian Islands, and the same munber has been recorded as East Indian. 



The fi'uit of Tonsella (Salacia) pjTnformis, a native of Sierra Leone, is eatable. It is 

 about the size of a Bergamot Pear ; its flavour is rich and sweet. The nuts of Hippo- 

 cratea comosa are oily and sweet ; it is called, in the French West India Islands, Aman- 

 dier du Bois. Martins reports that several species of Tontelea, called Saputd in Brazil, 

 have a sweet mucilaguious fruit, which is eaten. I find no indication here of the emetic 

 and nauseous quahty recorded as being characteristic of Spindle-trees. 



Fig. CCCXC VI.— Hippocratea Aniottiana.— Tr?^ftf. 1. a flower; 2. across section of the ovary ; 

 3. ripe fruit. 



Fig. CCCXCVI. 



