ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. of 
Arrinitizs, According to DeCandolle, this order is allied to Capparidee, and Passifloree, 
but is distinguished from both by the branched placente spreading over the whole of the inside 
of the fruit, a character so peculiar, that he considers it sufficient to distinguish them from all 
the other dicotyledonous orders. They certainly resemble Capparidee in several particulars, 
but are sufficiently distinguished by their peculiar fruit, their albuminous seed, their straight 
embryo, and many of them by their unisexual flowers, which are of very rare occurrence in 
Capparidee. 
Essentiat Cuaracter. Potypetalous. Stamens either few, equalling the petals, or very 
numerous. Ovaries wholly superior, combined into a solid pistil, with the placentas parietal, 
spread over the whole inner surface—leaves without stipules. ‘The petals are sometimes want- 
ing, and the flowers often unisexual. 
Geoorapuicat Distrisution. Peculiarly a tropical order, nearly all found in the warmer 
parts of the East and West Indies. A few are found in Africa, one in Senegambia, one or more 
in Madagascar, two or three at the Cape, among which, I learn, is a species of Phoderos, 
Some are met with in the Eastern Archipelago, among which I believe is the genus Hydno- 
carpus, which Blume proposes to remove to his new order, Pangiacee. 
Properties AnD Uses. But little is known of these. The young shoots and leaves of 
Flacourtia Cataphracta Roxb., which have the taste, but not the bitterness of Rhubarb, are 
considered astringent and stomachic, in the Circars, and are prescribed in cases of diarrhea 
and general feebleness, while in Bahar, a cold infusion of the bark is used in cases of hoarseness : 
the infusion of FJ. sepiaria is considered useful in bites of snakes ; the bark rubbed with 
oil and made into a liniment is employed against gout on the Malabar coast. 
The fruit of most of the Flacourtias are acidulous, and pleasant tasted. Those of 
F, Ramonchi, a Madagascar plant, but now occasionally met with in our gardens, are about the 
size, and have much the appearance and taste of our small black winter plums, and I am 
informed make an excellent tart fruit. A species of Rowmia found in the Ceylon jungles has 
some as to be unfit for food. On the Malabar Coast an oil is extracted from the seed which is 
employed as an external application in a variety of cutanious diseases, and in irritations affecting 
the eyes, causing an excessive flow of acrid tears. An anomaly so striking as that presented by 
the poisonous properties of this plant, compared with the salutary ones of the rest of the order, 
affords strong evidence, in support of the opinion of Blume, that this, and one or two other 
genera referred here, should be removed and united to form a distinct order, a course which he 
has followed, giving the name Pangiacee to the new order, from Pangium, one of the genera 
referred toit. As I have not seen his paper on the subject, Iam unable to state his reasons for 
this determination, or to offer any opinion on their merits. 
Remarks on Genera ann Species. This is a small a order, 27 species only, referable 
to it, being known to DeCandolle when he published his Prodromus. The Number has been 
considerably augmented since then, partly owing its characters being now better understood, 
leading to several, previously doubtful genera, being placed in it, among these are Roxburgh’s 
Gynocardia, now referred to Hydnocarpus and Louriro’s Phoberos which seems to have been 
unknown to DeC. as itis not noticed. Chaulmoogra of Roxburghs (FI. Ind. 3. p. 835) is evi- 
dently the same as Gynocardia of his Coromandel plants, about which, there is a curious, though 
unimportant, errorin Dr. Lindley’s Natural System of Botany, the one being referred, without a 
doubt, to Flacourtianee, and retained as one of the genera of th ‘der ; while the other, is 
reduced to a synonym of Hydnocarpus, and referred to Pangiacee. The genus Phoberos of 
