360 XLI. CELASTRACEiE (oLIVER). 



3, variously inserted upon, outside of, or within, the more or less conspi- 

 cuous disk. Ovary sessile or rarely shortly raised on a thick columnar 

 torus, free or more or less confluent witli the disk, 3 -5 -celled ; style entire 

 or lobed ; stigma simple or lobecl. Ovules 2 (rarely 1) or oo, anatropous, 

 erect or ascending. Fruit a capsule, drupe, or subapocarpous and often sama- 

 roid. Seeds sometimes winged {Hippucratea) , with or without a fleshy 

 albumen, frequently arillate. — Shrubs or trees, occasionally spinescent or 

 scandent. Leaves opposite or alternate, most frequently coriaceous, simple. 

 Stipules minute or 0. Inflorescence cymose, axillary or terminal. Flowers 

 small, greenish yellowish or white. 



A cousiderable and wide-spread ligneous Order, most frequent in warm countries. One 

 mouotypic genus is confined to tropical Africa. 



Stamens as many as petals. 

 Ovules 2 in each cell. 



Leaves alternate. Fruit a capsule 1. Celastrus. 



Leaves opposite. Fruit a capsule 2. Catha. 



Leaves alternate (or opposite). Fruit a drupe 3. ELiEODENDRON. , 



Ovules 6-8 in each cell. 



Leaves opposite. Anthers dehiscing transversely .... 4. Campylostemon. 

 Stamens (3) fewer than petals. 



Fruit of distinct usually dehiscent carpels 5. Hippocratea. 



Fruit baccate, indehisceut 6. Salacia. 



1. CELASTRUS, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 364. 



{Gymnosporia, "Wight et Arn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. 1. c. 365.) 



Flowers frequently polygamous. Calyx 5-partite or 5-fid. Petals 5, 

 sessile, usually spreading. Stamens 5, inserted upon or under the margin of 

 the disk ; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 2-3-(rarely 4-)celle(l, 

 free or more or less confluent with the disk ; style short ; stigma with as 

 many lobes as cells in the ovary or subcapitate. Ovules 2 in each cell. 

 Capsule globose or obovoid, often trigonous, 3 -2-1 -celled, with 1 or 2 seeds 

 to each cell, dehiscing loculicidally. Seeds vi\i\\ a fleshy albumen, frequently 

 more or less invested by a fleshy arillus. — Shrubs or trees frequently armed 

 with axillary spines. Leaves alternate, usually more or less coriaceous and 

 serrulate or toothed. Flowers small, in (African species) axillary forking 

 cymes or pedicels simple, fasciculate. 



A large genus widely distributed in the warmer and tropical countries of the Old World. 

 The tropical African species appear to be endemic with the exception of one wide-spread 

 species, C. senegalensis. The species do not admit of being separated by decisive characters 

 in an analytical table. 

 Peduncles forking. Armed or unarmed. 



Leaves acute, 3-6 in., elliptical, serrulate. Peduncles I3-34 in., 



slender. Ovary half-immersed 1. C. gracilipes. 



Leaves acute (or the fasciculate leaves obtuse), oblanceolate or 

 oblanceolate-rhomboid, much narrowed below, 2-3 in. Ovary 



free 2. C. andongensis. 



Leaves more or less obtuse, rarely exceeding 3-4 in. 



Leaves obovate-elliptical to oblanceolate, very obtuse, much 

 narrowed below, glaucescent, serrulate or entire, i-4 in. 

 Ovary usually 2-celled 3. C. senegalensis. 



