LXXVI. ilVRSIXACE.^. 83 



stipilate, and the length of tlie l^laraent would often seem to be a 

 questiou of age. Beddome (For. Mau. in Flor. Sylvat. p. cxxxvii) in 

 his description of M. indica says that some forms are quite glabrous, 

 others densely pubescent, particularly on the under surface of the leaves 

 and the petioles. It does not seem unlikely tliat the difference in 

 hairiness may be due to climatic conditions, as the specimens of M. duhia 

 appear to be chiefly from the plains of the Konkan and Kanara, while 

 those of M. Indica are from tlie hills. 



Konkan: Law'., Stoc/isl, Talbot. Kanaka; Talbot, Law \ ; Kasarii, TitVcA/e, 1827 ! 



Mcesa veluflna, Mez, iu Etifrl. Pflanzenreich, v. 4, p. 35. OF this I have seen no 

 specimens ; there are none in Herb. Kew. According to Mez {/. c.) the plant grows in 

 the Presidency of Bombay, from whicli specimens from Dr. Gibson are in Herb. 

 Leiden. Mez desci-ibes tlie fruit as subacute at the apex ; otherwise the description 

 would apply to Mcesa indica, var. diibia, 



2. MYRSINE, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs usuall}'' glabrous. Leaves coriaceous, usually entire. 

 Flowers small, sessile or shortly pedicellate, polygamous or often 

 dioecious, in sessile or shortly peduncidate axillary fascicles ; bracts 

 often imbricate, deciduous. Calyx small, 4-5-fid, persistent. Corolla 

 4-5-partite or -petalled, white ; segments spreading, imbricate (rarelj 

 valvate), not contorted in bud, resinous-dotted. Stamens 4-5, inserted 

 at the base of the corolla-lobes ; anthers short. Ovary free, globose or 

 ovoid, 1-celled; ovules few or man}', immersed in tlie placenta; style 

 short or almost obsolete ; stigmas 2-5, erect or spreading, sometimes 

 sessile. Fruit small, globose, dry or subfleshy, red or purple. Seed 

 solitary ; albumen more or less pitted, scarcely ruminate ; embryo 

 elongate, cylindric, often cureed or sigmoid. 



The genus has been divided by Mez [Engl. Pflanzenreich, v. 4 (1902)] 

 into 2 genera, viz. Mi/rsine (4 species) in which the filaments and styles 

 are distinctly visible, and llapanea (136 species) in which the anthers 

 and stigmas are sessile. I have adhered to the genus as defined in the 

 'Genera Plantarum ' of Bentham and Hooker. — Disxrib. Chiefly tropical ; 

 species 140 in the combined genera of Mez. 



1. Myrsine capitellata, ^Yall. in llo.vh. Fl. Ind. ed. Carei/, v. 2 

 (1824) p. 295. A shrub or small much-branched tree ; branchlets thick, 

 dark-brown, marked with the scars of fallen leaves ; young parts 

 glabrous. Leaves coriaceous, 3-6 by |-2| in., elliptic-lanceolate or 

 narrowly obovate, subacute, entire, glabrous, pellucido-punctate, re- 

 ticulately veined, narrowed at the base ; petioles g-^ in. long. Flowers 

 small, sessile or on slender glabrous pedicels yj-g in. long, in dense 

 rounded fascicles, on nodules in the axils of fallen leaves ; bracts ovate, 

 imbricate. Calyx resinous-dotted, 5-toothed ; teeth triangiUar, about 

 ■j^j- in. long, minutely gland-ciliate. Corolla divided almost to the base ; 

 lobes g-^ in. long, ovate-oblong, subacute, resinous-dotted and with 

 minutely filiate margins, spreading or reflexed. Anthers very large, 

 sessile or nearly so in the ^ flowers, on short filaments in the cJ flowers. 

 Fruit globose, -^-| in. in diam., purple and shining when ripe. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 3, p. 512 ; Wight, Icon. t. 1211 ; Bedd. Flor. Sylvat. t. 234 ; Trim. 

 Fl. Ceyl. v. 3, p. GS ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 202 ; Woodr. in 



g2 



