48 sapindacEjE. [Turpinia. 



4. TURPINIA, Vent. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5. Stamens 5. Disk annular, between the stamens and 

 ovary. Ovary sessile, 3-celled, with several (usually 6 or 8) ascending ovules 

 in each cell. Styles 3, slightly cohering, with a 3-lobed stigma. Fruit suc- 

 culent and indehiscent, nearly globular or 3-pointed at the top. Seeds few, 

 with a fleshy albumen. Embryo straight or slightly curved. — Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves opposite, either pinnate or apparently simple (when reduced to a single 

 leaflet). Flowers usually white, in axillary or terminal panicles. 



A genus of few species, indigenous to tropical Asia or America. The Staphylece, to which 

 it belongs, are usually considered as forming an independent Order. 



Leaves undivided (of a single leaflet). Flowers about 3 lines long . . \. T. arguta. 

 Leaves pinnate, with 3 or 5 leaflets. Flowers about 1 line long. , . 2. T. nepalensis. 



1. T. arguta, Seem. Bot. Her. 371. A shrub of 3 or 4 feet in height. 

 Leaves on short stalks, undivided, that is, reduced to a single leaflet, which, 

 when old, shows an articulation on the petiole, broadly or narrow oblong, 

 slightly crenate, 3 to 6 in. long, glabrous. Flowers of a dirty white, or pur- 

 plish when in bud, about 3 lines long, in a rather dense terminal oblong 

 panicle. Inner sepals and petals oblong-ovate, about equal in length, the two 

 outer sepals rather smaller. Disk scarcely crenate. Fruit nearly globular, 5 

 or 6 lines diameter, containing usually 2 or 3 seeds. — Ochranthe arguta, Lindl. 

 Bot. Keg. t. 1819. Eyrea vernalis, Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. iii. 331. 

 Staphylea simplicifolia, Gardn. and Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. i. 309 ; see 

 also Planch, in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, ii. 256. 



In ravines on Mount Victoria and Mount Gough, Champion and others. Not as yet 

 found out of S. China. Some specimens so closely resemble those of T. insignis, Tul. (Lace- 

 pedea, H.B. K.), from Mexico, as to make it difficult to draw up a good diagnosis. The 

 panicle is narrower and more dense, and the flowers larger and especially longer. 



2. T. nepalensis, Walp. ; W. and Am. Prod. PI. Penins. i. 156; 

 Wight, Ic. t. 972. A tree, glabrous in all its parts. Leaves evergreen, pin- 

 nate ; the common stalk 3 to 6 in. long ; leaflets 3 or 5, shortly petiolulate, 

 oblong or elliptical, acuminate, 2 to 3 in. long, entire or slightly toothed. 

 Flowers small, white and numerous, in trichotomous panicles in the axils of the 

 upper leaves, and shorter than the stems. Sepals and petals broad, scarcely 

 a line long. Fruit globular, often 3-pointed, especially when young. 



Common in the island, Champion and others. Extends over the hilly districts of India 

 and eastern tropical Asia. 



Order XXIII. MALPIGHIACE^S. 



Sepals 5-, usually with a conspicuous gland at the base of one or more of 

 them, imbricate in the bud. Petals 5, distinctly unguiculate, convolute in 

 the bud. Stamens 10, or rarely fewer, usually shortly monadelphous at the 

 base. Carpels usually 3, sometimes 2 or 4, altogether or partially united, the 

 styles distinct or united. Ovules solitary in each, orthotropous, rising up from 

 a long pendulous pedicel, with which they form a sort of hook. Fruit inde- 

 hiscent, entire or separable into 3 (or 2) nuts, often variously winged or 

 crested. Seed obliquely suspended. Albumen none. Embryo, with a short 



