18 c ru c i f e B M . [Polanisia . 



1. P. vicosa, DC. Prod. i. 242. An erect annual, covered with short 

 glandular hairs. Leaflets 3 or 5, obovate-cuncate or oblong, about 1 in. long, 

 flowers small, yellow. Stamens 8 to 16. Pod oblong or linear, striate, glan- 

 dular-hairy, 2 to 3 in. long. 



In waste places, Hance, Seemann. A common weed throughout India, extending west- 

 ward across northern tropical Africa and eastward to Australia, and occurring also, as an in- 

 troduced weed, in the West Indies. 



2. CAPPARIS, Linn. 



Stamens usually indefinite. Eeceptacle not elongated below the stamens. 

 Ovary stalked. Placentas 2. Stigma sessile. Fruit fleshy or pulpy, inde- 

 hiscent. — Shrubs or climbers, rarely trees. Leaves undivided. 



A considerable genus, generally spread over nearly the whole area of the family. 



Stems trailing, not prickly. Pedicels 1 to 4, a little above the axils . 1. C. membranacea. 

 Stems shrubby, prickly. Corymbs terminal, paniculate .... 2. C pumila. 



1. C. membranacea, Gardn. and Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. i. 241. 

 A glabrous shrub, with trailing branches and no prickles. Leaves oblong 

 or lanceolate and acuminate, 3 to 5 in. long, membranous or slightly coria- 

 ceous, reticulate. Pedicels 1 -flowered, 1 to 4 together in a vertical row a little 

 above the axils of the leaves and longer than the petioles. Petals about 5 

 lines long. Berries globular. 



Victoria Peak and Happy Valley Woods, Champion, Hance, Wright. Not as yet found 

 out of the island. 



2. C. pumila, Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. iii. 260. A shrub with slender 

 branches but not trailing, glabrous or slightly pubescent in the upper part. 

 Stipules of the lower leaves prickly, the upper ones often wanting. Leaves 

 oval or oblong, acuminate, 2 to 2|- in. long, with a prominent midrib, the 

 lateral veins inconspicuous. Flowers glabrous, in pedunculate corymbs form- 

 ing a terminal panicle. Pedicels scarcely longer than the calyx. Ovaries 

 glabrous. Berries globular. 



Once seen in a ravine in the Black Mountain. Champion. A single bush behind the 

 Buddhist Temple, Wilford. Not known from elsewhere. 



Order X. PITTOSPORACE^l. 



Sepals 4 or 5, free or partially combined, imbricate in the bud. Petals as 

 many, hypogynous, imbricate in the bud. Stamens as many, distinct, hypo- 

 gynous, alternating with the petals. Ovary single, with 2 or more parietal 

 placentas, or divided into as many cells by the meeting of the placentas in the 

 axis. Ovules several to each cell, anatropal. Style simple, with as many stigmas 

 or stigma-lobes as placentas. Fruit a capsule or a berry. Seeds often covered 

 with pulp. Embryo minute, in a fleshy albumen. — Trees and shrubs or climbers. 

 Leaves alternate, mostly entire, without stipules. 



A small Order, chiefly Australian, with a few tropical or subtropical African and Asiatic 

 species. 



