150 MYRTACE^. 



Ovary three-celled, flat at the top with slight depression 

 round the base of the slender style : stigma small : ovules 

 many. Whole fruiting mass % inch across, of four to 

 seven dry fruits, each opening by valves at the top. 

 Seeds minute, i/io inch long, linear-cuneate : embryo 

 straight, with cotyledons longer than the radicle, t. 107. 

 Pulneys : near Kodaik'a.nal in the Gundan shola plantation. 

 Nilgiris : garden of Ootacamund Club, Coonoor. 



RHODOMYRTUS. f.b.i. 59 vi. 



A small genus chiefly remarkable for the tomentose 

 young parts, three-nerved leaves, and ovary divided hori- 

 zontally (as well as vertically) into one-seeded chambers. 

 Trees or shrubs. Calyx-tube turbinate. Petals four to 

 five. Stamens many, in several series : filaments free 

 slender. Fruit a drupe-like berry of one-seeded cells or 

 pyrenes in two to six superimposed series. 



Species 5 or 6, nearly all inhabitants of east Australia ; our 

 species widely distributed. 



Rhodomyrtus tomcntosa Wight ; F.B J. ii 469, VI i ; 

 Hill Gooseberry. A round topped bush. Branches 

 downy and compressed towards the tips. Lower leaves 

 often in threes, upper opposite, subsessile : blades ellip- 

 tic or obovate, 2 by l^ inches (less or more), with three 

 or five main veins. Flowers pink in small cymose axillary 

 corymbs. Peduncles 2 inches, pedicels J^ inch. Petals 

 % Xo Yz inch, downy on the backs. Fruit globular, 

 size of a cherry, dark purple : seeds compressed, t. 108 

 Wight 111. t. 97 "^ /. 3 ; Sp. Nilg. t 71. 



Common on dry slopes. Nilgiris : eastern slope of the Snow- 

 don-Dodabetta ridge, abundant ; Kotagiri. Pulneys : on the 

 open downs, not common ; but abundant lower, near Poombari. 

 Fyson 261, i2>^' Bourne 111. 



Gen. Dist. Mountains of South India, Ceylon, Malacca, Singapore. 

 The fruit is quite pleasant near Ootacamund and Kotagiri, onthePulney 

 downs it is much less so. 



