282 The Flowering Plants of Western India. 



OBDEB 104. LORANTHACE-ffi. The Mistletoe Family. 



It naturally puzzles students to find an order of plants, the flowers 

 of which have a complete corolla as well as calyx, in the middle of 

 the Monochlamydeous orders. Lorauthaceae, by Bentham and Oliver, 

 as well as by other authorities less connected with Kew, was put 

 among the calyciflorals near Araliacege and Rubiacese. H., however, 

 groups the order according to its less obvious affinities, and the 

 reason is, I suppose, that which I find in another book that the 

 petals are looked on as being in reality sepals, and the calycine rim 

 as being only an expansion of the pedicel. At the same time H., in 

 the description both of the order and of some of the species, writes 

 of calyx and corolla in the ordinary way. 



Parasitic shrubs, leaves usually opposite, often thick and 

 fleshy, entire, without stipules; calyx adherent to the ovary, 

 limb truncate, rarely toothed ; petals 4 to 8 free or united, 

 stamens as many as the petals and opposite to them, ovary 

 inferior, fruit a one-seeded berry or drupe. 



1. LORANTHUS. Flowers conspicuous, generally with bracts, 

 corolla tube generally split on one side, lobes 4 or 5. 



2. YISOUM. Flowers unisexual, very small and pale-coloured, 

 calyx without any prominent border, petals 4, anthers broad, 

 attached to the petals, stigma large, fruit fleshy and pulpy. 



1. LORANTHUS. 



Note. H. has 58 species, of which 13 are found in W. India. 



Brandis has land as a name for most of the plants of this order, 

 which Dr. Dymock makes wdndd, and calls a general name for all 

 parasites. I noted godmal as a name generally given to the different 

 species of Loranthus, amongst which there is a very strong simi- 

 larity. 



1. L. oltusatus. A large species, smooth, leaves oval obtuse, 

 broad and thick, flowers in erect racemes at right angles to the 

 stiff pedicels with a bract at the angle, corolla green with red 

 lobes, flower bud 4-angled, fruit ovoid or roundish. 



Mahableshwar. Ghauta (H.). 



2. L. longiflorus. Large and handsome, all smooth, leaves 

 oblong or ovate, flowers in racemes, tube long-curved, white or 

 pink, lobes 5, curled back, green ; stamens exserted, anthers 

 red, fruit oval of a beautiful pink crowned by the calyx. 



This is like honeysuckle. H. has 3 varieties, " leaves infinitely 

 variable." Very common in the Konkan. Also in the Deccan and 

 Guzerat. Nearly all over India (H.). Grows on most trees (Brandis) 

 but with us especially on the Mango, on which its roots make great 

 unsightly knots. 



