I 





LUSTRATION 



OF 



INDIAN BOTANY 



LXIIL— ALANGlEiE. 



A small OT<ler of Indian sTirubs but whose place in the series of orders seems still uncer- 

 tain. DeCandoIle who established the order oa the singfle sjenus Alanoium^ but afterwards add- 

 ed Marlea, placed it between Melastomaceae and Philadilpheae near Alyrtaceae, which ar- 

 rangement we adopted. Bartling. however, does not approve of this station, but does not propose 

 any other, merely placing it for the present along with several other orders, the places of which 

 are in his opinion equally uncertain, at the end of his arrangement, Lindley refers it to his 

 alliance Mf/rtales in his p'olypetalous epigynoas group, thus associating it with nearly the same 

 orders (haf DeCandoUe does, but places it between Comhretaceae and Rhizophoreae in place of 

 between Melasfomaceae and Myrtaieae. Meisner, the latest writer on the subject, thinks it ap- 

 proaches more nearly to Corneae than to Combrefaceae and accordingly refers it to Jussieu'a 

 class Epipetatoe. Of these several proposals the last seems the nearest correct, since they more 

 nearly associate in the character of their ovary, fruit and all)umenous seed, with (Jornus and 

 Loranthiis^ than with either Combfetum or AlijrtuSy but with which it is desirable they should 

 remain associated on account of their numerous petals^ that being the character of the group in 

 Tvhich they are arranged, 



The order consists of deciduous shrubs or small trees, with alternate, exstipulate, glabrous, 

 entire leaves without pellucid dots, much resembling those of some species of Grewia, with 

 axillary congested largish white flowers and eatable fruit. 



*' Calyx campanulate, 5 10 toothed. Petals as many as the segments of the calyx, linear, 

 reflexed : aestivation twisted. Stamens long, exserted, once, twice, or four times as many as 

 the petals: filaments distinct: anthers introrse, two-celled, often sterile. Ovarium globose, 

 cohering with the tube of the calyx ; 1-2 celled : ovules solitary, pendulous : style 1, subulate, 

 expanded at the b^se into a thick c Joured fleshy disk covering the top of the ovary : stigma 

 dilated. Berry (bahusta) ov^\, cohering with the tube of the calyx, and somewhat crowned 

 by its limb, fl*^shy, slightly ribbed, l-2-celled : endocarp sometimes osseous, and separating 

 from the sarcocarp like a put anen. Seeds solitary, pendulous. Albumen fleshy, Kmbryo 

 straight: radicle superior : cotyledons flat, foliaceous. Trees, Leaves alternate, exstipulate, 



entire, not dotted. Flowers few, axillary, fascicled, shortly peduucled.'* 



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