74 ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 
Tribe VI—Dombeyacee. Calyx usually with an involucel, 5-partite or rarely 5-lobed. 
Petals 5, flat, rather large, unequal-sided, convolute in cestivation. Stamens some multiple of 
the number of petals, in a single row, monadelphous, sometimes all fertile, but usually 5 of 
them sterile and filiform or strap-shaped. Styles 2, 3, 5, or 10, distinct, or united together. 
Ovules 2, placed side by side, or several, in two rows in each cell of the ovarium, Embryo 
straight, usually in the axis of a fleshy albumen. Cotyledons leafy, often bifid, crumpled or 
"To this tribe Pentapetes, Melhania, Pterospermum and Kydia belong. The two former 
genera are for the most part composed of small herbaceous or suffruticose plants, the latter of 
handsome flowering trees. They are all widely distributed over the Peninsula. Dombeya 
ya, 
which is a fine flowering shrub and a favourite in gardens, isa doubtful native of Southern India 
2-celled erect.—To this tribe one or perhaps two Indian genera belong. The one Microchlena, 
which is abundant on the slopes of both the Pulney and on the Shevaroy hills, is a small 
stunted looking tree with rough cracked bark. 
Arrinitigs. A slight examination of the peculiarities of the preceding tribes will show 
how difficult it must be to draw up any character suited to include the whole order without 
introducing so many contradictions as to render such a one almost useless in practice, and yet, 
it is generally easy to distinguish the members of the order. They are nearly allied to Mal- 
vacee and Tiliacee, from the former of which they are separated by their 2-celled anthers, 
and from the latter by their monadelphous stamens. 
Prorertizs ann Uses. The plants of thi : 
the class Columnifer@, abound in om is order, in 
itted by its mucilaginous properties ; the Indian species, 
: ae eye here, for the same rs 
‘ et mucilagin afnls 
tree very common in India, is employed to clarify pla ik toh — with, ns pe 
