LORANTHACEiE. 353 



or brownish-green leaves Flowers in cymes or racemes, 



with concave or obliquely cup-shaped bract and two 



bracteoles : perianth double : ovary inferior crowned 



by the small calyx-teeth. Petals four to six, combined 



into a short or long tube split down one side, the free 



parts (corolla-lobes) bent outwards and down against 



the tube. Stamens attached to the base of the lobes. 



Ovary before fertilization solid, or with a slightly 



looser tissue in the centre, but with no clearly marked 



ovule : style single and stigma undivided. Fruit an 



egg-shaped berry or drupe crowned by the calyx-teeth, 



with very sticky pulp, and a single seed rather to one 



side, without seed-coat but with a quantity of endosperm 



and straight embryo, the radicle pointing upwards. 



Species above 300, of various habit, in Africa, Asia and 

 Australia, nearly all in tropical regions only. 



The plant lives by sending suckers, through the bark and into the young 

 wood and phloem of the branch it is seated on. From the host-tree are 

 absorbed water and a certain amount of ready-made food products : but a 

 certain amount of assimilation is no doubt done by the leaves, in which 

 the chlorophyll is partially developed. The fruits are dispersed by birds, 

 which find the seeds sticking so firmly to their beaks that they are compelled 

 to sit (on a branch) to clean them off. By this means the seeds are planted 

 on fresh trees. On germination the radicle pushes out and into the bark. 

 Dr. Barber tells me that the seeds of the different species may readily be 

 distinguished. 



r Flowers under one inch, in lateral racemes : leaves 

 broad ............ L. obtusatus. 



J Flowers in dense cymose bunches, scarlet : leaves 

 ^i lanceolate. ........ L. neelgherrensis. 



Flowers in sets of two or three, peduncled or sessile, at 

 [ the leaf-axils . . . b 



{Leaves alternate but usually in bunches, obovate J^ to i^ 

 inches L. cuneatus. 

 Leaves opposite . c 



{Flowers one inch, very slender . . L. memecylifolius. 

 Flowers i to ij^ inches, trumpet-shaped. L. loniceroides. 



Loranthus obtusatus Wall, Cat. 526!; i^5./. v 205, 

 I 6. Characterised by its broad leaves and dense spikes 

 of slender erect flowers. Branches robust. Leaves 3 to 4 

 by 2 to 3 inches, ovate obtuse, very firm, quite glabrous ; 



