74 



flora inbica. [Magnoliacea 



Chinese species is largely exported to India and Europe under the name of Star- 

 Anise. 



I. I# Griffithii (H.f. et T.) ; foliis ellipticis vel lanceolatis utrinque 

 acutis saepe apice acuminatis, sepalis et petalis circa 24, staminibus to- 

 tidem, carpellis 12-15 superne rostratis.— Griffith! Itin. Notes, 38, 80. 



Hab. In montibus Khasia, in sylvis densis humidis, alt. 4-5000 

 ped., Griffith!— (FL vere.) (v. v.) 



Frutex 10-15-pedalis, cortice griseo rugoso, ramis junioribus angulatis. Gemma 

 squamis numerosis imbricati3 involutae. Folia nitida, (sicca) laete viridia, subtus 

 fusco-lutea, 2-4 pollices longa, 1-2 lata. Sepala rotundata, subciliata. Petala ex- 

 teriora late ovalia, sepalis majora, ^ pollicem longa, interiora gradatim minora et an- 

 gustiora. Fit amenta lata, plana; antherce ovali-oblongae, introrsae. Carpel/a car- 

 nosa, endocarpio crasso coriaceo, in fructum superne planiusculum subumbilicatum 

 1^ poll, latum f poll, altum congesta, sed inter se non eohserentia, dorso convexa, 

 superne in rostrum erectum vel subincurvum subulatum producta, superne inter 



trum et axin dehiscentia. Semen solitarium, testa nitida luteo-fusca, rhaphe su- 



periore 



Though the species of Illicium are all very much alike in habit and in the shape 

 of the leaves, they appear to possess sufficient marks of distinction in the flower and 

 fruit. /. Griffithii is readily distinguished from the Chinese and Japanese species 

 by the more numerous and strongly -beaked carpels. The flowers resemble those of 

 I. parviflorum, but the petals are much more numerous; their colour is unknown. 

 All parts of the plant are aromatic, even in the dried state ; the fruit has not, either 

 when fresh or dried, at all the smell of anise, but possesses a faint agreeable odour 

 like that of the leaves and wood. It is rather a local plant in the Khasia hills. 

 Griffith found it at Mamloo, near Churra, and it occurs also in the deep valley of the 

 Kala-pani. 



Tribus II. Magnolie^e, DC. 



Ovaria secus torum elongatura spicata. Stipula conspicuae. 



2. TALAUMA, Juss. 

 Sepala 3. Petala 6 vel plura. Gynophorum sessile. Ovaria bi- 



ovulata. 



coalita, irregru 



lariter et quasi circumscisse dehiscentia. Semina in foveolis receptaculi 

 centralis persistentis pendula. — Arbores vel frutices, floribus terrninali- 

 hus solitariis. 



A very distinct genus, easily recognized when in fruit by the peculiar dehiscence 

 of the carpels, and by the seeds adhering to the persistent axis after the separation of 

 the greater part of each carpel. In this genus, as well as in Magnolia and Michelia, 

 the cord by which the seeds are suspended is composed of a mass of highly elastic 

 spiral vessels, which are capable of extension by the weight of the seed, and yet quite 

 strong enough to support its weight for a considerable time. The seeds of Talaama, 

 therefore, remain suspended to the woody central axis long after the carpels have fal- 

 len away. The species are all tropical or subtropical, and appear to be about equally 

 numerous in the Old and New World. The Asiatic species hitherto described are 

 four in number, all natives of Java and the islands of the Archipelago. One of these 

 only, so far as we know, extends into the Malayan peninsula, but two very fine new 

 species have been obtained from the mountainous countries north" of Bengal. In the 

 Madras peninsula and Ceylon this genus is wanting. 



1. T. Hodgson! (H.f. et T.) ; foliis obovatooblongis, fructu 



