Riichiea.] ix. CAPPARiDACEiE (Oliver). 101 



Petals elongate, considerably exceeding the sepals, varying from 4 linear- 

 oval, with a very long claw, to 8 or 20 narrow-linear, wavy, 1-2 lines in 

 breadth. Stamens indefinite. Ovary oval-oblong, usually more or less dis- 

 tinctly +-8-sulcate, glabrous, 1-celled with 2, 3 or 4 placentas, or with the 

 placentary plates nearly dividing the cavity. Ripe fruit not seen. — R. erecla, 

 Hook. f. Fl. Nigrit. 216. tt. 19, 20. R. polypetala, Hook. f. Bot. Mag. 

 5344. 



Var. a. Petals 4. 



Var. &. Petals 8-20. 



Upper Guinea Sierra Leone, Afzelius ! Dr. Kirk ! Dahomey, Burton ! Niger, 

 Barter ! Accra, T. Vogel ! Abbeokuta, Irving I Fernando Po and Old Calabar, Mann > 



Ijower Guinea. Golungo Alto aud Zenza do Golungo, Angola, Dr. Weltoilsch ! 



In the original specimen of R. erecta, I find 8-9 petals, not 4 only as figured in Fl. Nigri- 

 taua. 



There are two imperfect specimens in the Kew herbarium, with 5-foliolate leaves, one may 

 prove a variety of R. fragrans ; the leaflets are elongate-oval, acuminate, narrowed to the 

 base, about 8 in. long. It is described as a small erect-growing shrub, with white flowers 

 (Niger, Barter). The other is similar to it, but the rather numerous lateral veins are 

 nearly parallel and unite in a distinct undulated intramarginal vein. The flowers ore too 

 imperfect for analysis (Sierra d. Crystal, Mann). 



Order X. MORINGACEiE (by Prof. Oliver). 



Flowers irregular, hermaphrodite. Calyx 5-partite, with a short, cup- 

 shaped tube and unequal, imbricate, at length spreading or retlexed segments. 

 Petals 5, similar in form to the calyx-lobes ; 2 upper smaller. Stamens 5, 

 alternating with 5 staminodes or 10, declinate ; filaments free, inserted in 

 the margin of the disk ; anthers 1-celled, dorsifixed. Ovary 1-celled, stipi- 

 tate ; style terminal, slender ; ovules indefinite, anatropous, pendulous, on 3 

 parietal placentas. Capsule siliquiform, 3-6-angled, 3-valved, many-seeded. 

 Seeds rather large, with or without wings, exalbuminous ; radicle superior. — 

 Trees with 2-3-pinnate leaves, clustered at the ends of the branches ; leaflets 

 obovate or obovnte-oblong, often caducous, or the leaves reduced to the 

 jointed rachis. Panicles ample, hoary or glabrous, of rather large whitish 

 pale yellow or red flowers. Capsules 6-20 in. in length. 



A small and anomalous family of doubtful afJinity, based upon the single genus of 3 or 4 

 species, Moringa. Coufined to India, E. tropical Asia, and warm regions between. 



1. MORINGA, Juss. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 430. 



Character that of the Order. 



Leaflets usually present at flowering. Seeds 3-alate 1. M. pt4nygosprrma. 



Leaves reduced to their jointed, 2-3-pinnate rachis, or leaflets few 



at flovverii'.g. Seeds not winged 2. M. aptera. 



*1. M. pterygosperma, Gartn. ; DC. Prod. ii. 478. Of this I have 

 seen only a cultivated specimen from Senegambia. It is of Indian origin. 



2. M. aptera, Gcertn. ; DC. Prod. ii. 478. Leaves 1 ft. or more in 

 length ; with or without a few scattered obovate or oblanccolate leaflets, \-\ 

 in. long. Panicles 9 in. to 1 ft., axillary ; flowers pale yellow. Capsule 

 about i ft. long. Seeds 3-gonous, unappendaged. 



