29o' THYMELEjE. [Thymelece. 



indehiscent nut or berry, or very rarely a 2-valved capsule. Seed without or 

 rarely with albumen. Embryo straight, with a superior radicle. — Shrubs or 

 trees, with a stringy bark, or rarely herbs. Leaves alternate or opposite, always 

 simple and entire. Flowers in terminal or axillary clusters, heads, umbels, 

 racemes, or spikes. 



A large Order, widely distributed over most parts of the globe. 

 Perianth 4-lobed. Ovary 1-celled. 



Stamens 4, with slender filaments, inserted at the base of the tube . 1. Cansjera. 



Anthers 8, nearly sessile, in 2 rows near the top of the tube. 



Hypogynous scales none. Leaves alternate 2. Daphne. 



Hypogynous scales 4. Leaves opposite 3. Wikstiuemia. 



Perianth 5-lobed. Ovary 2-celled 4. Aq,uilakia. 



1. CANSJERA, Gmel. 



Perianth short, deciduous, with 4 small lobes spreading or recurved, without 

 scales at the throat. Stamens 4, with slender filaments, inserted at the base 

 of the perianth. Hypogynous scales 4, alternating with the stamens. Ovary 

 fleshy, with a minute cavity and 1 (or 2 or 3 when very young) pendulous 

 ovule. Fruit a berry, with a single erect seed. Embryo small, towards the 

 summit of a fleshy albumen. — Shrubby climbers. Leaves alternate. Flowers 

 small, in axillary spikes. 



A small tropical Asiatic genus. 



1. C. Rheedii, Gmel.; Meisn. in DC. Prod. xiv. 519; Wight, Ic. t. 

 1861. Young branches and inflorescence minutely pubescent or glabrous. 

 Leaves almost sessile, ovate-acuminate or broadly lanceolate, 1£ to 3 in. long, 

 glabrous, evergreen, and rather thick. Spikes about 1 in. long. Flowers 

 yellow, sessile, distant. Perianth about \\ lines long, with 2 minute bracteoles 

 at the base. — C. lanceolata, Benth. in Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 491. 



At East Point, in the Happy Valley and at Little Hongkong, Champion; also Wright. 

 In Ceylon and the Indian Peninsula, and in the Archipelago. 



2. DAPHNE, Linn. 



Perianth tubular, with a spreading 4-lobed limb, without scales at the 

 throat. Anthers 8, almost sessile, in 2 rows, near the top of the tube. Hypo- 

 gynous scales none. Ovary with 1 pendulous ovule. Fruit a berry. Seed 

 without albumen. — Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate. Flowers in 

 terminal or lateral, sessile or rarely pedunculate heads or clusters. 



A considerable genus, dispersed over Europe, Asia, and North Africa. 



1. D. Championi, Benth., n. sp. A much branched shrub, more or less 

 silky-hairy. Leaves alternate, oval or oblong, rather acute, about 1 in. long, 

 on very short petioles, silky-hairy underneath, less so above. Flowers sessile, 

 usually about 3 together, in axillary or lateral clusters. Perianth densely 

 silky-pubescent, the tube 3 or 4 lines, the lobes ovate and obtuse, not 1 line 

 long. Ovary sessile or nearly so, hairy except at the base. — D. Fortunei, 

 Benth. in Kew Journ. Bot. v. 196 ; not of Lindley. 



Hongkong, Champion, Hance ; in a ravine among rocks at the back of Headquarter 

 House, Wilford. Champion's specimens were too young to ascertain the shape of the flower, 



