Genttaxales.] 



EBENACEiE. 



505 



Order CCXXIX. EBENACE^.— Ebenads. 



Guaiacanse, Juss. Gen. 155. (1789) part of the first sect.— Hhenacese, Vent. Tabl. U^. (1799); Brouti 

 Prodr. 524. ; Endl. Gen. clix. ; Meisn. Gen. p. 250 ; Alph. DC. Prodr. 8. 209.— Erycibea, Endl. 

 Gen. p. 655 ; Alph. DC. Prodr. 9. 463. 



Diagnosis. — Gentianal Exorjens, loith no stipules, and a simple sessile radiating stigma. 



Trees or shrubs, without milk, and with heavy wood. Leaves alternate, without stipules, 

 obsoletely articulated with the stem, entire, coriaceous. Inflorescence axillary. Flowers 

 by abortion ^ ^ , seldom , 

 the ^ with the rudiment 

 of an ovary, the $ usually 

 with a few sterile stamens. 

 Calyx in 3 to 7 di^^sions, 

 nearly equal, persistent. 

 Corolla monopetalous, hypo- 

 gynous, regular, deciduous, 

 somewhat coriaceous, usually 

 pubescent externally, and 

 smooth internally ; its limb 

 with 3 to 7 divisions, imbri- 

 cated in aestivation. Sta- 

 mens definite, either arising 

 from the corolla, or hypo- 

 gj-nous ; twice as many as 

 the segments of the corolla, 

 sometimes 4 times as many, 

 or the same number, and 

 then alternate with them, 

 often inserted in pairs at the 

 foot of the lobes of the corolla, 

 and then neither opposite 

 nor alternate with them ; 

 filaments simple in the hermaphrodite species, generally doubled in the polygamous 

 and dioecious ones, both their divisions bearing anthers, but the inner one generally 

 smaller ; anthers attached by their base, lanceolate, 2-celled, dehiscing lengthwise, 

 sometimes bearded ; pollen round, smooth. Ovary sessile, without any disk, several- 

 celled, the cells each ha\ing 1 or 2 ovules pendulous from their apex ; style divided, 

 seldom simple ; stigmas bifid, or simple. Fruit fleshy, round, or oval, by abortion often 

 few-seeded, its pericarp sometimes openmg in a regular manner. Seed with a membra- 

 nous testa of the same figure as the albumen, which is cartilaginous and white ; embryo 

 in the axis, or but little out of it, straight, white, generally more than half as long as the 

 albumen ; cotyledons fohaceous, somewhat veiny, lying close together, or occasionally 

 slightly separate ; radicle taper, of middhng length or long, superioi', tm'ned towards 

 the hilum. 



Brown thinks these plants allied to Oliveworts, with which they agi'ee in the placen- 

 tation of the seeds and other points of structure ; being distinguished by their alternate 

 leaves, constantly axillary and usually unisexual flowers, the stamens of which are at 

 least double the number of the lobes of the corolla ; but that compai'ison by no means 

 indicates their nearest affinity, which is certainly with Hollyworts on the one hand, and 

 Dogbanes on the other. The nature of their distinction from the former is stated at p. 

 579; the latter are known by their peculiar stigma, frequently bifollicular fruit, and 

 numerous seeds. Sapotads, to which they are also much allied, have a great amygdaloid 

 embryo. In a large number of cases there is a strong tendency to polygamy, which might 

 have been suspected to indicate some relation to the Diclinous Alliances ; but no other 

 resemblance can be traced, and in fact the separation of the sexes in the present Order 

 is but partial : rudimentary stamens being uniformly present in the ? flowers. 



Chiefly Indian and tropical ; a very few are found northward as far as Switzerland in 



Fig. CCCCIV.— Maba elliptica.—r(« /•/>/«. 1. a flower; 2. a c? corolla cut open .S. a caly.x aud 

 pistil ; 4. fruit ; 5. its section ; 6. a perpendicular section of a seed. 



QQ 2 



