Zawsonia.] lviii. lythraoe^e (hiern). 483 



free, sessile, globose, not included in tube of the calyx, 4-celled. Pla- 

 centa central, with 4 lobes projecting into the cells of the ovary. Cap- 

 sule globular, bursting- irregularly across, 2- or 4-celled; septa mem- 

 branous; pericarp thin, brittle. Seeds large, pyramidal ; testa thick; 

 embryo straight; radicle ^ length of embryo, cylindrical; cotyledons 

 thick, £ length of embryo, cordate-auricled at base, embracing the 

 radicle. — Glabrous shrub with opposite leaves and branches. Inflo- 

 rescence in terminal and lateral panicled cymes. Bracts small, de- 

 ciduous. 

 This genus has but one species, and is widely cultivated. 



1. L. alba, Lam. Enc. iii. 106. Shrub 6 ft. high, with terete stem 

 and subterete divaricate branches, of same pale colour throughout. 

 Leaves elliptic or obovate, cuneate at base into short petiole, usually 

 acute or spinous-pointed at apex, submembranous, entire, J— 1J in. 

 long ; midrib depressed on upper surface of leaf; lateral veins not con- 

 spicuous. Flowers sweet-scented. Pedicels about 1-2 lines long, 

 slender. Tube of calyx J length of the calyx ; lobes pointed. Petals 

 greenish-white. Stamens usually 4, alternating with the petals; 

 sometimes more numerous when a pair springs from near the same 

 point of the callous ring of the calyx between the petals. Capsule 

 \- ^ in. in diameter. 



The plant is sometimes spinous, and then it is L. spinosa, Linn. ; in other cases it is 

 L. inermfo, Linn. Often cultivated under the name of Senna, and used as a dye. The 

 leaves ate ground in their raw state, and then mixed with lime-juice, to be put on the 

 tips of the fingers, either to stain them red or to prevent whitlow. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Roger! Perrottet. Sierra Leone (in gardens),. Barter ! 

 Nicols I Niger, Barter I 



Nile Land. Philae, Speke and Grant! Nubia, Kotschy I 



In other countries the stamens are usually 8. 



9. SONNERATIA, Linn. f. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 784. 



Calyx thick, coriaceous, with campanulate or hemispherical tube and 

 6 or 7 lobes as long as the tube valvate in bud, not cornuate. Petals 

 as many as the lobes of the calyx and shorter than them. Stamens 

 very numerous, in several rows, inserted on a ring at the top of a peri- 

 gynous sheath ; filaments long ; anthers reniform, versatile. Ovary 

 adherent to the tube of the calyx towards its base, depresso-sphericai, 

 many-celled ; cells many-ovuled ; style straight ; stigma subcapitate. 

 Placentas thick, axile. Fruit manv-celled, ultimately free from the 

 calyx and stipitate ; cells many-seeded. Seeds curved, angular ; testa 

 thick, crustaceous ; cotyledons shorter than the terete radicle. — Gla- 

 brous trees or bushes with opposite coriaceous leaves and large flowers. 



A small genus, scattered over tropical snores of the Old World. 



1. S. acida, Linn.f. ; DC. Prod. iii. 231. A bush or small tree with 

 terete and opposite branches, tumid at the nodes. Leaves roundly 

 oval, with somewhat wavy margins, slightly wedge-shaped at base, 



