LXVII. EPACRIDE-5:. 143 



mimerous or very obscure. Tlowers axillary or terminal, either solitary and 

 terminating peduncles more or less covered with imbricately scale-like or leaf- 

 like bracts, or in spikes or racemes, each flower between 2 bracteoles in the 

 axil of a subtending bract, the common peduncle usually ending in a small 

 rudimentary flower with its subtending bract, the peduncles or spikes solitary 

 or rarely several in a terminal panicle. Sepals usually finely marked with 

 parallel or diverging veins. Corolla white or of various shades of red, rarely- 

 blue, green or yellowish. 



^ The Order is almost confined to Anstralla, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and the Antarc- 

 tic Islands, a few species spread over the islands of the Pacific and the Indian ArchipeLigo, 

 and a single one representing it in the mountains of extratropical South America ; the extra 

 Australian species belong to 4 out of the 24 Australian genera, except the South Ame- 

 rican species, and 1 or 2 from New Caledonia, which have been referred to genera not quite 

 identical with Australian ones. 



The division of the Order into two suborders, tribes or comprehensive genera, is remark- 

 aWy clear and definite, and has been admitted by ail ; but the characters hitherto found 

 available for their subdivision into lower groups have in some cases proved inconstant, and 

 u» others have been pronounced as of little value from d priori considerations; and many 

 penera proposed by Brown, and generally adopted, have, nevertheless, been rejected, first by 

 i'oiret and Sprengcl, and recently again by R Mueller. The species, however, are so nume- 

 rous that subdivision, whether into genera or into sections, is necessary, and the following 

 appear to me to be the characters the most available for the purpose. The foliage, m many 

 respects uniform and characteristic of the Order, divides nevertheless the tribe Fpam^ into 

 three natural groups. The inflorescence and bracts, although, perhaps, less diversified m 

 Pnomple than was formerly supposed, offer still some modifications, which are constant in 

 some genera, and very general in others. The calvx is remarkably uniform in the whole 

 Order. The corolla, its shape, the aestivation of its' lobes, and the arrangement of certain 

 t^fts of hairs it often bears (which probably take some part in aid of fertihzation), has been 

 ;?ade much use of by Brown and others for the distinction of genera, but is now almost cn- 

 t™y rejected by P. MueUer. It appears to me, however, to afford often most useful eha- 

 ^f rs, although not always quite absolute. The filaments adnate to the corolla or free. 

 Bat or terete, the anthers connate or free, exserted or included, entire or 2-lobed, may be m 

 ^ome cases generic differences, but in others are specific only ; the reduced number of sta- 

 ^ens only serves to separate the monotvnic eeniis OUqarrhena. The hypogj'nons disk, its 



presence 



»geuenc character, and may not ahvavs be constant in species. The ovary is nearly un - 

 lonn in each of the great tribes, varyiiW in Styphelies only in the number of cells, the dit- 

 ftrenc^ being more frequently specific than generic, and in Epacrc«> PJ^'f "*'"^ /"J?'?, 

 ""arked modification of the piaccnta, which, however, neatly separates R^che^a and Dr^w-- 

 PV/«;« from the rest of the tribe. The fruit is uniform in Epacrese; m Styphcliea; the 

 ^^ater or lesser degree of suecnlence in the mesocarp, and of consolidation m the endoca p, 

 « occasionally of considerable generic value, notwithstanding its vagueness. In the stmcture 

 Sn fu"^' I have not detected any differences of any importance. Their number and posi- 

 tum either corresponds with that of the ovules; or, if altered in the course of growth, the 

 i-equent modifications do not appear to give any gcucric indications. 



Tribe I. Stypheliese.- Or«te solUary in each cell of the ovary, fevdulomfrom the 

 """'' 0/ the cavity. Style terminal. Fruit indekiscent, usvally drupaceous. 



»*ters exserted. (Corolla-lobes revolute so as completely to expose 

 Anlu "f ^ summits of the filamtuts and the authers.) 

 Anthers free. Filaments glabrous. 



Corola-tuhe long or slender. Fruit a 5 -celled drupe . . . . ]• ^^"^"'^t^r* 



Corolla-tube very short. Fruit 3-pyrened and berrj-lite . . 6. Pentachonbra. 



jn hers connate in a cone round the style. Filaments glabrous . 2. Coleamh>.ka. 



"iners connivent or connate, enveloped with the filaments in a 



