Myrica.] cxxiv. myricace^ (Hutchinson). 307 



Order CXXIV. MYRICACEiE. 



(By J. Hutchinson.) , 



Flowers unisexual, arranged in short bracteate spikes. Pcriaiiili 

 ; the female with a few perianth-like whorled bracteoles. Male 

 Hower subtended by a solitary bract : stamens 2-oo, usually 4-8 ; 

 filaments short, free or more or less connate ; anthers erect, ovoid or 

 oblong, with 2 parallel longitudinally dehiscing cells, rarely accom- 

 panied by a small subulate rudimentary ovary. Female flower 

 subtended by a solitary variously shaped bract and with a whorl 

 of small perianth-like fleshy bracteoles around the base of the ovary. 

 Ovary sessile, 1-cclled ; style short, with two spreading or ascending 

 branches. Ovule 1, erect from the base of the cell, orthotropous. 

 Drupe small, globose or ovoid, usually strongly warted, the warts 

 often at length covered with a white w^axy substance ; endocarp 

 hard. Seed erect; testa membranous ; albumen 0; embryo straight, 

 with plano-convex fleshy cotyledons and a short radicle. — Trees 

 or shrubs, frequently aromatic. Leaves alternate, penninerved. 

 entire, serrate, dentate or pinnately lobed ; stipules 0. Flowers 

 moncrcious or more usually diwcious. Male spikes axillary, usually 

 dense-flowered, in the African species usually solitary, in some 

 extra-African fasciculate or paniculate ; when bisexual then the male 

 flowers below the female. Female spikes sometimes longer or shorter 

 than the male, often axillary. 



A single genus with about 50 s)K'cic8, distributed throughout the Northiiii 

 He mis )) hero, (> in the Mascarene Islands, 10 in South Africa. 



Jn a monograph of Mijricacecc, [)ublish(>d in J{X)1, A. Chev^alier recogniHOH 

 3 genera, GIale, Tournef., Comptonia, Banks, and Mvrica, Linn. ; but for tJie 

 present work it seems ])referable to follow Hentham and Hooker and Engler in 

 treating them as sections or subgemMa, although it is not diaput<'d that there 

 are good reasons for their segregation. It should be noted, however, iu refer- 

 ence to the use of these names, that Linnaus in his Systema (17.'{5) plated 

 the name dale of Tournefort and the older authors ixa a synonym of his Myrica^ 

 and tha-t Myrica (I'alc, Linn., would therefore represent the type species of his 

 genus. H this [)rc-Linniean name, d'ah, were adoot^MJ, Myrica, Linn., would 

 l>e synonymous, and, admitting Curnploitin, an American plant, to l>e di.stinet, 

 ail the s|X)cie« of Myrica as undci-stood by Chevalier would l>e referreil to the 

 genua MoreUa, Lour. (1790). 



1. MYRICA, Linn. ; Benth. el Hook. f. Glen. PI. id. iw. 

 Characters of the Order. 



Fruits with two pointed lat<*ral shoulders, ret-inous- 

 glanduJar between the angles but not wart<'d, in- 

 serted on deciduous shoots ; leaves deciduous ... L M. (f"Cr. 



Fruits without shoulders, densely warted, arranged 

 on persistent shoots ; leaves j)ei-Kistent. 

 riowers monoecious. 

 Leaves truncate and untquul-sjHed at the base : 



