120 XUI. BIXINE^ (OLIVER). [Liidia. 



1. L. sessiliflora. Lam.; DC. Prod. i. 261. Wholly glabrous. Ex- 

 tremities apt to be minutely tubercled with numerous lenticels. Leaves 

 coriaceous, shining, rhomboid-oval or -elliptical, subacute or obtuse, cuneate 

 at base ; lateral nerves directed forward at a rather sharp angle, looping reticu- 

 lation prominent above and below, 2-3 in. long, f-li in. broad (occasionally 

 considerably larger) ; petiole about 1 line. Flowers axillary, sessile, solitary 

 or 2-3 together, with 2 or 3 minute bracts around the calyx. Style shortly 

 2-4-fid or undivided and the stigma lobed. 



Mozamb. Distr. Zanzibar, Lr. Kirk ! 

 Also in Manritius. 



5..FLACOURTIA, Commers.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 128. 



Flowers dioecious. Calyx 4-5(-7)-partite; lobes sometimes unequal, im- 

 bricate. Petals 0. Male fl. : Stamens very numerous, with small roundish 

 or subdidymous 2-celled, unappendaged anthers attached at the back and 

 dehiscing 'longitudinally. Ovary 0. Female fl. : Stamens 0. Ovary sur- 

 rounded by an annular or interrupted disk, usually 4-8-celled, with a pair of 

 superposed ovules (the upper ascending, the lower pendulous) in each cell ; 

 the upper and lower ovules separated at length by spurious dissepiments. 

 Styles 4-8, more or less radiating, persistent ; stigmatic apices retuse or 

 emarginate. Fruit a berry, in the African species from 8-J6-celled ; the cells 

 in 2 sei-ies, one above the other, each with a bony endocarp enclosing a soli- 

 tary seed. — Shrubs or small trees, frequently spinose, with alternate simple 

 leaves. Flowers small, in terminal or axillary racemes or fascicles or small 

 panicles, or the females often sohtary. Fruit often edible. 



A rather small genus, confined to tropical Asia, China, tropical Africa, and the Mascarene 

 islands. 



The species are exceedingly difficult to determine and define. 



Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, broadly elliptical, with shallow crenatures, 



usually rounded or obtuse, veiulets reticnlated \. F. Ramontchi. 



Leaves firmly membranous or coriaceous, glabrous or glabresceut, cre- 

 nate-serrate or obsoletely serrulate, pointed or subacuminate. Vein- 

 lets somewhat transversely parallel 2. F. fiavescens. 



Leaves very coriaceous, rotundate, denticulate-serrate, softly hairy to 



the touch 3. -F. hirtiuscula. 



1. F. Ramontchi, VHerit. Slirp. Nov. 59. t. 30, 30 /?. A glabrous 

 shrub or with the young pails and petioles obsoletely puberulous, frequently 

 armed with acute, axillary, ascending or spreading spines, 1-2 in. in length. 

 Leaves shortly petiolate, glabrous, at length shining, and when dry veiny 

 above, broadly elliptical or varying from obovate- to oblong-elliptical ; apex 

 usually rounded and obtuse, sometimes broadly pointed; base rounded or 

 more or less cuneate, broadly (sometimes obscurely) crenate or crenate- 

 serrulate, 2-3^ in. long, 1^-2^ in. broad. Petiole 3-5 lines. Flowers 1-2 

 lines diam., in short, few-tlowered, terminal racemes or terminating short 

 lateral shoots. Fertile flowers perhaps usually solitary. Styles 5-7, very 

 short radiate, each longitudinally grooved above. Fruit a roundish, pulpy, 

 edible berry, ^1 in. diam., with about 10 seeds. 



