190 cxviA. HERNANDiACE.f: (sprague). [Gyrocarpus. 



accrescent perianth-segments. Cotyledons spirally twisted. — Trees with 

 simple, long-petioled, undivided or 3-5-lobed leaves. Cymes corymbose, 

 €bracteate, borne chiefly in the axils of the upper leaves. Flowers very 

 small and numerous. 



Species 5 or more, in the tropical parts of both hemispheres, some undescribed. 



1. G. asiaticus, Willd. Sp. PL iv. 982. A tree, 30-80 ft. high. 

 Branchlets stout, pubescent in a young state. Leaves crowded towards 

 the ends of the branchlets, broadly ovate or suborbicular, those on young 

 trees deeply 3-lobed, often 8-10 in. in diam., those on old trees usually 

 undivided, 4-5 in. long, 3-3J in. broad, all more or less acuminate, 

 simply cuneate at the base or cuneate from a cordate or truncate base, 

 3-nerved with the lateral nerves soon forked, or more rarely 5-nerved 

 from the base, glabrous or slightly puberulous above, more or less 

 puberulous or pubescent below, sometimes only on the nerves ; petiole 

 •2-bh in. long. Cymes 2-4 in. long, densely pubescent. Flowers 

 -greenish-yellovv or cream-coloured, either all male in a cyme, or the 

 terminal ones hermaphrodite. Perianth h lin. long in male, |-1 lin. 

 long in hermaphrodite flowers, densely pubescent outside ; the two larger 

 lobes of the hermaphrodite flower 2-3-lobed. Filaments |-1 lin. long, 

 puberulous. Staminodes stalked, villous above. Style densely pubescent, 

 h lin. long. Fruits ovoid, about | in. long, velvety, ribbed above, 

 rugose below ; wings elongate-spathulate, 2-3 J in. long, puberulous. — 

 Jacq. Fragm. 63, t. 93, f. 2; Roem. ^k Schult. Syst. Yeg. iii. 292; 

 Mant. 218; Spreng. Syst. Veg. i. 489; Nees in Wall. PI. As. Rar. ii. 68; 

 Blume in Ann. Sci. Nat. 2°^« ser. ii. 97 ; Nees, Syst. T^aur. 701 ; Miq. 

 Fl. Ned. Ind. i. i. 978 ; Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xv. i. 248 ; Baker f. in 

 Andrews, Monogr. Christm.'Island, 178. G. Jacquiniy Roxb. PI. Corom. 

 i. 1, t. 1 (excl. syn.) ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ed. Carey «fe Wall. i. 465 (ed. Carey, 

 i. 445); Seem. Fl. Yitien. 95 (excl. syn.); Laws, in Oliv. Fl. Trop. 

 Afr. ii. 435; Beddome, Fl. Sylv. t. 196; Kurz, For. Fl. Brit. Burma, 

 i. 470; C. B. Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 461; Trimen, 

 Handbk. Fl. Ceylon, ii. 165. G. americanus, Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. A. 75, 

 C. 182 ; Prain, Bengal PI. i. 484 ; Cooke, Fl. Bombay, i. 486 ; not of 

 Jacq. 



Nile Xiand. Abyssinia, ex Engler. Britisli East Africa: Takaungu, 80 ft., 

 Thomas ! 



Ziower Guinea. Angola: Huilla; on the river-bank at Tsehahut, Fritsche^ 

 189! 



IVIozamb. Dlst. German East Africa: Usambara ; Kwa Mshuza, Hoist 

 8899! 



Also in Asia and Polynesia ; the Australian specimens which have been referred 

 here may represent one or more distinct species. A small branchlet bearing young 

 fruits, from the Victoria Falls, Khodesia, Allen, 401, may possibly belong to G. 

 asiaticus. The fruits, however, differ in being glabrous. Gyrocarpus was formerly 

 referred to the CombrefacecB, and G. asiaticus was included under that order in Fl. 

 Trop. Afr. ii. 435, as G. Jacquini, on the strength of a statement by Welwitsch that 

 he had it in his Angola collection. Hiern {Cat. Afr. Fl. TTelw. i. 356) states that 

 "Welwitsch's specimen was Illigera pentapliylla, Welw. 



