NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 3] 
MILLINGTONIACEZX.—Rozb. 
Sepals 5, persistent, unequal, somewhat in a double series: wstivation imbricative. Petals 5, in- 
serted on the margin of the receptacle, deciduous, alternating with the sepals, of two kinds ; three outer 
ones orbicular, entire, with an imbricative zstivation ; two interior smaller, acutely bifid, resembling scales, 
Stamens 5, opposite to the petals, and slightly united tothem at the very base: three exterior sterile, op- 
posite to the larger petals ; two interior fertile, opposite to the bifid petals: filaments of the fertile stamens 
flat : anther-cells globose, dehiscing transversely, placed side by side on the inner side of the saucer-shaped 
connectivum. Disk flat, thin, hypogynous, free except at its point of attachment with the ovary and recep= 
tacle. Ovary ovate, 2-celled ; ovules 2 in each cell, superposed. Style simple, short, and thick. Stigma 
slightly 2-lobed. Fruit a l-celled, 1-seeded drupe; the dissepiment evanescent above, hardened and per- 
sistent at the base. Seed withasmall cavity onthe side, near the base. Albumen none, or extremely 
thin. Embryo curved: cotyledons thin, foliaceous, folded: radicle curved, pointing to the hilum.— 
Trees. Leaves alternate, without stipules, entire or pinnated. Inflorescence in panicles, terminal, 
or axillary near the extremity of the branches. Flowers small, inconspicuous, nearly sessile on very short 
peduncles that are arranged along the horizontal branches of the panicles.— W. and A, Prod. p. 115. 
beyond the mi 
Mrttineton1A Puncens (Wall.) leaves simple, A. Prod p 115 
coriaceous, lanceolate, acute at the base, quite entire, A large tree very abundant in the woods about 
glabrous on both sides, nerves beneath with a rusty Ootacamund—flowering during the warm season— 
dle, equal to the filaments.—W. and 
ranchlets of the panicle aggregated : calyx 
with 3 bracteoles; sepals unequal, glandularly ciliat- 
Panicles large, terminal, flowers white, leaves thick 
and leathery; the branches of the panicle and the 
ealyx clothed with short, matted rusty coloured hair. 
Fruit about the size of a pea, dark brown, nearly black, 
ed; outer petals roundish, concave ; inner ones cleft when ripe, 
XXI.— AMPELIDEA.—GrapreE yINE TRIBE. 
In an economical point of view this is an interesting order as being that which 
yields the grape vine ; but this, the Vitis vinifera, is the only species belonging to the family 
of any real value to man. The Fox-grapes of America are used there for some pur- 
poses but can hardly be considered an exception to the rule, and still less can an Indian 
species from which, in Mysore, vinegar is sparingly prepared. In a Botanical point of view 
the family possesses considerable interest on account of the differences existing among Bota- 
nists both as regards its affinities, with other orders, and the difficulty which has been expe- 
rienced in finding generic characters under which to arrange its numerous speeies. 
It is not my intention here to dilate on either of these points, I shall therefore 
content myself by observing that its true affinities, as shown by uniformity of habit and struc- 
ture of the flowers and seed, are unquestionably with 4raliacew, and through them to Umbel- 
lefere, but, differing from both in the free, not adherent, ovary. The climbing habit, and 
especially, the mode of union of the leaves to the stem, combined with the valuate estivation 
of the petals and albumenons seed, all point to this relationship which is only opposed by the 
solitary difference of the superior ovary, or, in other words, the calyx being less developed 
and not adhering to the ovary. Influenced by these views, Endlesher has, in his genera 
Plantarum, placed this order next Araliaceae as suggested by Lindley ; DeCandole also points 
. 
