40 TILlACiJB, [Tiliacea. 



Order XX. TILIACE.E. 



Sepals 5 or rarely 4, free or rarely united in a lobed calyx, valvate in the 

 bud. Petals as many, imbricate in the bud, or sometimes none. Stamens 

 indefinite or rarely twice the number of petals, hypogynous, free or united in 

 bundles at the base. Anthers terminal, 2-eelled. Ovary free, 2- to 10-celled, 

 with several or rarely a single ovule in each cell. Style entire or divided at 

 the top into as many lobes as cells of the ovary, or sometimes the stigma is 

 sessile on the ovary. Fruit dry or succulent, indehiscent or with a loculicidal 

 dehiscence, or rarely separating into cocci. Seeds usually albuminous, with 

 a straight embryo and leafy cotyledons. Radicle next the hilum. — Trees, 

 shrubs, or rarely herbs. Leaves alternate, undivided, with pinnate or palmate 

 nerves. Stipules usually small and deciduous, rarely wanting. Flowers 

 usually hermaphrodite. 



A considerable Order, chiefly tropical, with a very few species in the temperate regions of 

 the northern hemisphere. 



Herbs or undershrubs. Flowers nearly sessile, solitary or clustered. 

 Stigma sessile or nearly so. Ovules several in each cell. Capsule 



dehiscent " 1. Corchorus. 



Style distinct. Ovules 2 in each cell. Capsule echinate, indehiscent, 



or separatiug into cocci 2. Triumfetta. 



Trees or shrubs. Flowers umbellate or racemose. 



Petals entire. Flowers umbellate 3. Grewia. 



Petals lobed or fringed. Flowers racemose 4. El^eocarpus. 



1. CORCHORUS, Linn. 

 Sepals 5, rarely 4. Stamens indefinite or rarely 10, free. Ovaiy 2- to 

 5-celled, with several ovules in each cell. Stigma sessile, or on a very short 

 style. Capsule either long and narrow or nearly globular, opening locu- 

 lieidally in as many valves as cells. — Herbs or undershrubs. Flowers small, 

 yellow, solitary or few together, on very short axillary peduncles. 



A genus of several species, widely dispersed over the tropical regions of both the New and 

 the Old World. 



Pubescent or hairy. Capsule elongated, 3-pointed and usually 3-wiuged 1. C. acutangulus. 

 Glabrous. Capsule nearly globular, warty, 5-furrowed 2. C. capsularis. 



1. C. acutangulus, Lam. ; W. and Am. Trod. Fl. Penins. i. 73; Wight, 

 Ic. t. 739. An erect annual about 2 ft. high more or less pubescent or hairy. 

 Leaves stalked, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, about 2 in. long, serrate, the two 

 lowest teeth usually ending in long points ; the lower leaves often small and 

 nearly orbicular. Stipules subulate. Flowers small, yellow, 1 or 2 together, 

 almost sessile in the axils of the leaves. Capsule nearly cylindrical, f to 1 in. 

 long, 6-ribbed, 3 of the ribs usually expanded into narrow wings, terminating 

 in*3 entire or bifid points or horns, 3-celled iuside. 



In waste and cultivated places, Champion and others. A common weed within the tropics, 

 and more especially in India. 



2. C. capsularis, Linn.; W. and Am. Trod. Fl. Penins. i. 73 ; Wight, 

 Ic. t. 311. An erect annual, 1 to 2 feet high like the last, but quite glabrous. 

 Leaves similar but narrower, from ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 2 to 3 in. 

 long. Flowers as in C. acutangulus. Capsule nearly globular or melon-shaped, 

 about 4 lines diameter, 5-celled, marked outside with 10 longitudinal furrows, 

 and covered with warty excrescences. 



