184 - A FLORA OF MANILA 
as many as the petals and opposite them, usually inserted on the petals. 
Ovary inferior, 1-celled; style long or short; ovule 1, adnate to the walls 
of the ovary. Fruit a 1-seeded berry or drupe. 
Genera 25 or more, species about 1,000, in all tropical countries, a few in 
temperate regions, 5 genera and about 60 species in the Philippines. 
1. LORANTHUS Linnaeus 
Branched, glabrous or pubescent, parasitic shrubs with opposite, whorled, ~ 
or alternate, entire, leathery leaves. Flowers perfect, small to large, often 
colored and showy. Petals free or more or less connate into a cylindric or 
inflated tube, the tips above the insertion of the anthers spreading or 
reflexed. Stamens inserted on the corolla-lobes, the anthers erect, adnate. 
(Greek “thong” and “flower,” in reference to the long petals of some 
species. ) 
Species about 500, mostly tropical, about 50 in the Philippines. 
Leaves alternate; flowers in peduncled compound umbels.... 1. L. haenkeanus 
Leaves whorled; flowers in fascicles............--...----.:c---0e-e-+e00e--00-" 2. L. merrittii 
1. L. haenkeanus Pres] (L. malifolius Presl). Cansasayao (Tag.). 
A nearly glabrous, coarsely branched parasitic shrub 0.5 to 1.5 m high. 
Leaves alternate, thickly coriaceous, lanceolate to oblong-ovate or ovate- 
lanceolate, 6 to 15 cm long, acuminate, acute, or obtuse, base acute or 
rounded. Flowers very numerous in dense, peduncled, lateral, compound, 
somewhat pubescent umbels, each branch of the umbel carrying one 
sessile, and two lateral short-pedicelled flowers. Flowers red, the corolla 
tubular, about 3 cm long, split about half-way to the base into 5 or 6 linear 
segments, the parts above the insertion of the stamens sharply reflexed. 
Fruit ovoid or ellipsoid, nearly 1 em long. (FI. Filip. pl. 459, L. malifolius.) 
Parasitic on mango trees, Masambong, Santa Mesa, etc., fl. Dec—Feb.; 
widely distributed on various trees in the Philippines. Endemic. 
2. L. merrittii Merr. Dapo sa bacauan (Tag.). 
A branched, glabrous shrub, 1 m high or less. Leaves coriaceous, 
oblong-obovate to broadly oblanceolate, rounded, 3 to 7 cm long. Flowers 
few, fascicled in the axils, shortly pedicelled or sessile, red, 12 to 13 mm 
long. Fruit ovoid, about 8 mm long. 
On mangrove trees, occasional, fl. Apr.June; occasional in the Philip- 
pines on various trees. Endemic. 
39. OPILIACEAE (OPILIA FAMILY) 
Shrubs or trees, sometimes woody vines, with alternate, simple, entire 
leaves, and small, regular, usually perfect flowers in simple or compound, 
axillary or terminal panicles, spikes, or racemes. Calyx small, not enlarged 
in fruit, 4- or 5-toothed or lobed. Petals 4 or 5, free or united, or none. 
Stamens as many as the petals or calyx-lobes. Ovary free or half- 
immersed in the disk, 1-celled, 1-ovuled. Fruit a drupe, the pericarp thin 
fleshy, the endocarp usually hard. 
Genera 7, species about 20, mostly in the tropics of the Old World, few 
in America, 2 genera and 2 or 3 species in the Philippines. 
