M^sa.} MyrsinecB. , d'j 



LXXVIII.— MYRSINE^.. 



Trees or shrubs, sometimes climbing, 1. alt., simple, without 

 stip.; fl. regular, often polygamous; cal. free (in McEsa half- 

 adnate to ov.), persistent, segm. 5 (rarely 4); cor.-lobes (some- 

 times separate pet.) 5 (or 4), imbricate or contorted; stam. 5, 

 inserted in cor.-tube opp. the lobes ; ov. superior (in McEsa 

 ^-inferior), i -celled, with few (or many) ovules on a free 

 •central placenta, style simple ; fruit a berry (in yEgiceras a 

 follicle) ; seed solitary (in McEsa several), with often ruminated 

 ■endosperm (absent in ^giceras). 



Of our twelve species all but three occur in the low moist region, and 

 two species of A rdz'st'a are confined to it; seven are found in the hill 

 country, to which Ejnbelia viridiflora and Ardisia Missionis are re- 

 stricted ; Ejnbelia robusta alone is found in the dry region only, and 

 ^giceras is a plant of mangrove swamps. 



Fruit a berry ; seed with endosperm. 



Berry enclosed in thickened cal i. M^ESA. 



Berry free, cal. not thickened. 

 Cor.-lobes imbricate. 

 Tree ; fl. in axillary clusters . ... 2. Myrsine. 

 Scandent ; fl. in racemes or panicles . . 3. Embelia. 



Cor.-lobes twisted 4. Ardisia. 



Fruit a follicle ; seed without endosperm . . .5. ^giceras. 



I. MJESA, Forsk. 



Shrub or tree, 1. alt, fl. small, in axillary panicles; cal. 

 |-adnate to ov., segm. 5, persistent ; cor. shallowly campanulate, 

 tube short, lobes 5, much imbricate; stam. 5, inserted at mouth 

 of cor.-tube ; ov. -l-inferior, with numerous ovules on free cen- 

 tral placenta, style very short, stigma capitate; berry small, 

 ■globose, enclosed in the thickened persistent cal. ; seeds several, 

 angular, with endosperm. — Sp. 35 ; 11 in Fl. B. Ind. 



DX. Indica, A. DC. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. 134 (1834). ZWata- 

 lilmbiya, S. 



Ribes serratum, Moon Cat. 17. Thw. Enum. 172. C. P. 1799. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iii. 509. Wight, Ic. 1206. 



A large shrub, or small much-branched tree, twigs slender, 

 glabrous, with many lenticels, young parts glabrous ; 1. rather 

 large, 3^-6 in., ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute at base, 

 acuminate, coarsely dentate-serrate, undulate, glabrous and 

 shining, thin, lat.-veins conspicuous, petiole \-i in. ; fl. very 



