334 A FLORA OF MANILA 
Species about 150, widely distributed in temperate regions, few in the — 
tropics, 5 or 6 in the Philippines, at medium and high altitudes, a single 
introduced one in our area. 
*1. V. oporATA L. Violeta (Sp.); Violet. 
Rootstock stout, the stems short or none, stolons slender. Leaves at the 
ends of the stems, orbicular to subreniform, base very deeply cordate. 
apex rounded, crenate-serrate, slightly hairy, 5 to 8 cm long, long-petioled. 
Flowers fragrant, 1.5 to 1.8 cm long. Sepals green, about 1 cm long, 
acute or obtuse. Petals violet, throat marked with white or with white 
lines. Style ending in a small hook. 
Frequently cultivated, fl. Nov—Jan. A native of Europe, introduced 
and cultivated only, not spontaneous. 
92. FLACOURTIACEAE (FLACOURTIA OR BITONGOL FAMILY) 
Trees or shrubs with alternate, entire or finely toothed leaves, the 
stipules small, deciduous. Flowers small, regular, perfect or 1-sexual, 
mostly axillary, fascicled or racemose. Calyx of 4 or 5 free or slightly 
united sepals. Petals small, as many as the sepals, or none. Stamens 
definite or indefinite, often with alternating staminodes, the filaments free 
or slightly united. Ovary superior or nearly so, 1- to several-celled; ovules 
1 to many in each cell; style and stigmas free or united. Fruit usually 
fleshy, loculicidally 2- to 5-valved or indehiscent and drupaceous or berry- 
like. Seeds arillated or not. 
Genera 79, species about 550, in most tropical countries, 10 genera and 
about 30 species in the Philippines. 
Stamens many; ovary several-celled; fruit drupaceous, indehiscent. 
1. Flacourtia 
Stamens about twice as many as the calyx-lobes; ovary 1-celled; fruit 
dehiscent, the seeus arilinie 8 ee 2. Casearia 
1. FLACOURTIA Commerson 
Erect shrubs or trees, often spiny. Leaves toothed or crenate. Flowers 
small, dioecious, rarely perfect. Sepals 4 or 5, small. Petals none. 
Stamens many. Ovary 2- to 8-celled; ovules usually in pairs; styles 2 or 
more. Fruit fieshy, the endocarp hard, 2 to 8-celled, each cell 1-seeded. 
(Named after E. de Flacourt, a French traveller.) 
Species about 12 in the tropics of the Old World, some cultivated, 2 or 
3 in the Philippines. 
1. F. sepiaria-Roxb. Bitongol (Tag.). 
An erect, branched, more or less spiny shrub or small tree 1 to 3 high, 
the spines rather slender, scattered, often 2 cm long. Leaves obovate to 
oblong-obovate, crenate, 2.5 to 5 cm long, crenate, apex rounded or retuse. 
Flowers white, axillary or terminating short branchlets, solitary or in 
pairs, long-pedicelled, about 5 mm in diameter, the sepals very much 
shorter than the stamens. Fruit globose and fieshy when fresh, purple or 
nearly black, smooth, about 1 cm in diameter, the pulp fleshy, edible, the 
endocarp usually 6-celled, deeply 6-lobed, the fruit conforming to the 
endocarp when dry. 
In dry open places, Masambong to San Pedro Macati, fl. May—June; 
widely distributed in the Philippines. India to Malaya. 
