NAT. ORDER. 



GullifercB. 



STALAGMITIS CAMBOGIOIDES. GAMBOGE TREE. 



Class XXIII. PoLYGAMiA Order I. Moncecia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, four-leaved. Corolla, four-petaled. Stamens, 

 thirty, inserted into a fleshy, quadrangular receptacle. Style, 

 thick. Stigma, four-lobed. Berry, one-celled, crowned by 

 the style and stigma. 



Spe. Char. Male. Calyx, Corolla, and Stamens, hermaphrodite. 



The Stalagmitis cambogioides is a middling sized tree; the 

 branches are oj^jjosite and divaricated ; the leaves are ojipositc, ovate, 

 entire, smooth, coriaceous, riged, and supported on short petioles ; 

 t\ie Jlowers are hermaphrodite and male; the hermaphrodite jloicers 

 are in axillary or lateral whorls ; the malejlowers are either in dis- 

 tinct clusters or mixed with the hermaphrodite ; the calyx in the 

 male flowers consist of four ovate leaflets, the two exterior of which 

 are smaller than the interior; xhe petals are four, spreading, coria- 

 ceous, with ciliated margins, and of a yellow color ; the stamens are 

 about thirty, and placed upon a four-square, fleshy receptacle ; the 

 arithers are club-shaped, — sometimes there are rudiments of a style, 

 and an unequal, sterile stigma ; the calyx, corolla, and stamens of 

 the hermaphrodite flowers, resemble those of" the male ; the germen 

 is globular, and supports a short style, crowned with a three or 

 four-lobed stigma, the lobes of which are obcordate and persistent, 

 the fniit is a smooth, globular, yellow berr}-, crowned by the style 

 and lobes of the stigma, and contains several long, triangular seeds. 



This tree is a native of the kingdom of Siam and Ceylon, 



144 



