LX. SAMYDACE.E (MASTERS). 493 



Petals twice as many as the sepals. Stamens very numerous. 



Filaments pilose 4. Dissombria. 



** Ovary more or less adherent. 



Petals flat, as many as the sepals 5. Homalium. 



Petals hooded 6. Byksanthus. 



1. CASEARIA, Jacq.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 796. 



Flower-tube short; sepals 4-6, imbricate. Petals wanting". Sta- 

 ininal tube short, emerging* from near the base of the flower- tube, 

 divided at its upper margin into 10 fertile stamens and as many barren 

 staminodes. Ovary free, ovoid ; style simple, short ; stigmas capitate ; 

 ovules numerous. Capsule 3-4-valved, calves bearing the seeds in the 

 middle. Seeds oblong-, with a fleshy aril ; albumen fleshy ; embryo 

 straight ; cotyledons flat ; radicle terete. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves 

 distichous, alternate, simple, coriaceous, often marked with linear or 

 circular translucent spots. Stipules minute. Flowers tufted, smalL 



A large genus, pretty uniformly represented in the Tropical regions of both hemi- 

 spheres and in Australia. The African species are few in number, and hitherto un- 

 described. 



Flowers in stalked glomerules 1.0. stipitata. 



Flowers in sessile glomerules. 



Leaves distinctly oblique at the base. 



Leaves lanceolate. Staminodes roundish, short . . . . 2. C. gladiiformis. 

 Leaves oblong. Staminodes ribbon-like, as long as the fila- 

 ments 3. C prismatdcarpa. 



Leaves not oblique at the base, or but slightly so. 



Pedicels longer than the bracts. Ovary longer than the 



stamens 4. C. Mannii. 



Ptilicels scarcely longer than the bracts. Ovary shorter 



than the stamens 5. O. Barteri. 



1. C. stipitata, Mast. A small tree (20 ft.), the younger branches 

 puberulous. Leaves glabrous, subcoriaceous, or with a few weak hairs 

 along the nerves on the lower face, oblong, entire, rounded or obtuse 

 at the base, shortly acuminate, 5-6 in. long, 2-2J in. wide. Petioles 

 very short. Flowers numerous, in dense, stalked axillary clusters ; 

 stipes shorter than the petiole. Sepals leathery. Staminodes flat, 

 ribbon-shaped, pilose, nearly equalling the glabrous fertile stamens 

 in length; anthers small, ovate, pointed. Ovary 3-lobed; style short; 

 stigma capitate. 



Upper Guinea- Aboh, Niger, Barter! 



2. C. gladiiformis, Mast. A tree with greyish bark. Leaves 

 subcoriaceous, glabrous, with circular and linear pellucid spots, lan- 

 ceolate, tapering at both ends, oblique at the base, sometimes acumi- 

 nate at the apex, 5-6 in. long, 2 in. wide. Petiole scarcely an inch in 

 length. Flowers numerous in dense, sessile clusters in the axils of the 

 fallen leaves ; flower-buds subglobose, slightly villose, as also are the 

 short pedicels. Sepals oblong, obtuse, concave, membranous at the 

 margins. Staminal tube dividing about half-way up into 10 short 

 fertile and as many sterile stamens ; fertile filaments glabrous, anthers 



