AQ NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 
MICROTROFPIS. 
Calyx 5, parted imbricated, corolla 5-petaled perigynous inserted into the outer edge of an annular 
disk, estivation imbricated. Stamens alternate with the petals rising from the edge of the disk. Anthers 
introrse, dehiscing longitudinally, sometimes alternating with short epipelatous scales (squamule 5, breves, 
epipetalae staminibus alternates. Arn.) Ovary semi-superior 2-celled wit ependent collateral ovules in 
each : style short, conical : stigma obtuse, obscurely four-lobed. Capsule superior 1-celled, two-valved, but 
usually dehiscing on one side only. Seed solitary, rarely paired, erect : testa thin, succulent, coloured. Em- 
bryo, erect, enclosed in a copious firm tenacious albumen: cotyledons foliaceous : radicle cylindrical. 
Shrubs or trees, leaves entire opposite. exstipulate, glabrous, shining, coriaceous. Cymes axillary 
or from the scars‘of fallen leaves, either furnished with longish peduncles or subsessile, forming dense 
capitule on the older branches. Flowers small white, sepals and petals orbicular concave, very coriaceous. 
Fruit capsular, oval oblong pointed with the persistent base of the style; capsule corticose (resembling bark 
ja colour and texture) testa thin, friable, somewhat resembling semi-indurated pulp, and, in all species Ihave 
seen, deeply coloured: albumen tenacious, translucent, easily sectile: cotyledons, when fresh gathered, 
green, but not quite so deeply coloured as represented in the plates. 
This genus wasnamed by Dr. Wallich, but without a character, in his List of Indian plants. 
Lindley adopted it in his Natural System but without defining it. Dr. Meisner and Arnott having got speci- 
mens, both published characters quite independent of each other. Their generic characters are both goodso far 
as their imperfect materials enabled them to go, but both admit'of alterations. The materials in my hands 
being more perfect than those they had, has induced me to endeavour to render more perfect their characters, 
ThepartI h ibedast 
he testa of the seed, Roxburgh has called anarillus (‘ Semina solitaria artllo tenut 
succulento involuta.” Arnott from Roxb.) 1 do so from finding no other part corresponding to that organ, 
from its completely investing the seed, without any opening, which atrue arillus must have, and from its being 
distinctly vascular, showing that it cannot be merely indurated pulp. 1 have not observed in any of the 
Hill species the epipetalous scales mentioned by Arnott. In Arnott’s character the ovules are said to be 
ascending, in all the Neilgherry species the ovules are pendulous, the seed erect, and the radicle inferior. 
How this change of position is brought about still remains for investigation. 
When Dr. Arnott published his remarks on this genus, he doubted whether it belonged to this order, 
a point on which there cannot, I think, be any longer a doubt, even supposing the corolla gamopetalous. 
This it certainly is not, but polypetalous, the petals attached to a disk. This structure is most easily made 
out in the unopened flower bud. : 
Microrropis microcarpa (R. W.) an erect shrub : February and March, but may generally be found in 
leaves opposite ovate, mucronate, entire, glabrous, flower at other seasons. 
shining above, glaucous beneath: petals obovate cuni- In their outline th 
ex, cymes i 
shorter than the leaves, capsule subcylindrical slightly 
attenuated at the base, pointed, testa of arusty brown ‘These two are very nearly allied species but, 1 think, 
q 
colour. 
Kottergherry, in dry jungles, flowering July and 
August, at the same time bearing clusters of ripe seed. MicroTropis RamirtoraA (R. W.) a moderate sized 
The shrubs from which the specimens were taken tree: leaves subsessile, slightly cordate at the base 
feet high, branches, ascending leaves i 
guste from 12 to 15 lines long, 4 to 6 broad. The coriaceous : flower subsessile, aggregated in dense 
an 
open flower, figure 2 was opened artificially. No.1 obovate: fruit oblong obtuse: testa of a redish 
saan the unopened corolla after the removal of the orange colour 
calyx. 
8 v 
Microtropis ovatiroria (R, W.) a large some- The leaves are from two to three inches long by about 
what diffusely ramous shrub: leaves oval, rounded 2 broad, exceedingly hard and coriaceous. hen in 
both ends: cymes axillary, trichotomous shorter 
than the leaves: petals orbicular, fruit oblong oval, covered with flow 
obtuse, testa crimson. 
Ootacamund, frequent in moist woods, flowering in hills, two referrible to ramiflorous division, 
another, or perhaps, two, to the cymose, 
