14 Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



smooth, crowned by the linear calyx-teeth ; length '5-1 in. diam. '02 in. 

 Seeds oval, in a single row in each cell. DC. Prodr. Ill, 59 ; Wight Ic. t. 

 762 ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, Pt. II, 91. Clarke in Flor. Br. Ind. 

 11,588. L. diffusa, TL^m. in Trans. Linn. Soc. XIV, 301; Wall. Cat. 

 6336; DC. 1. c. L. fruticulosa, Blame Bijd. 1133; DC. 1. c. Nemato- 

 pijxis prostrata, 'pusilla, and fruticulosa, Miq. Flor. Ind. Bat. I, Pt. I, 630. 

 Perak ; Curtis 3183. Singapore ; King's Collector 58. Andamans ; 

 King's Collector. Distrib. Burma, Cachar, Sylhet, Assam, and the base 

 of the Eastern Himalaya. 



A species closely resembling L. parvifio7-a, but readily distinguished by having 

 very slender capsules, through the walls of which the seeds may be distinguished 

 lying in single row in each cell ; whereas in _L. parvifiora the seeds are in several 

 rows in each cell and are undistiuguishable on the outside of the thick walls of the 

 short inflated capsules. 



Order L. SAMYDACE^. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, often distichous, petioled, rarely 

 subsessile, simple, entire or slightly crenate or serrate, often closely 

 punctulate beneath ; stipules small, deciduous. Floivers regular, small, 

 axillary, shortly pedicelled, densely fascicled or in long simple or 

 pauicled racemes. Calyx coriaceous, persistent; tube short, free, or 

 lono-er and adnata to the ovary ; limb 3-7-fid. Petals as many as the 

 calyx-lobes (or 0), perigynous, imbricated. Stamens definite or indefi- 

 nite, often with staminodes between or united in a tube with them. 

 Ovary superior or half-superior, 1-celled ; style 1, capitate or 3-fid at the 

 apex, or styles 2-5 ; ovules many or several, placentas 2-5 (usually 3), 

 parietal. Fruit loculicidally 2-5- (usually 3-) valved, valves carrying 

 the seeds on their mesial line. Seeds several (usually few, sometimes 

 many), oblong or angular, albuminous, usually drilled. Distrib. 

 Species 180, scattered through the tropical regions of the globe, rarely 

 also in the subtropical. 



Flowers without petals : — 



Flowers in axillai-y glomeruli, rarely solitary ... ... 1. Casearia. 



Flowers in long slender racemes or panicles ... ... 2. Osmelia. 



Flowers with petals ; flowers in axillary or terminal racemes 



or panicles ... ... ... ... ... 3. Homalium. 



1. Casearia, Jacq. 



Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, distichous, petioled, un- 

 divided, entire or slightly serrate, often minutely punctate ; stipules 

 small, lateral, caducous. Flowers small, greenish-yellow, clustered in 

 the axils (in the Indian species) : pedicels short, jointed above their 

 bases, surrounded by small scales. Cahjo: inferior, deeply 4-5-lobed ; 



3.58 



