Tovaria TOVAllIACE^ 247 



(excl, cit. Peru, Caraccas). Bancroftia diffusa Mac/. Jean. i. 112 

 (1837). (Fig. 104.) 



In fl. and fr. Sept. and Oct. ; Morce's Gap, and road to Newhaven, 

 St. George, ^lacfadycn ; Morce's Gap, Purdiel Portland Gap, 5550 ft., 

 Sullivan \ near Vinegar Hill, 4500 ft. Harris \ — Mexico, Colombia, 

 Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru. 



Stem several feet in length, supporting itself on neighbouring shrubs. 

 Leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, shortly petiolulate, 6-15 cm. 1. ; petioles 

 2-6 cm. 1. Racemes 15-20 cm. 1. Pedicels 8-12 mm. 1. Bracteoles 

 7-8 mm. 1., linear. Flowers greenish-white. Sepals 8, linear-lanceolate, 

 4-nervod, nerves giving off branches, minvitely ciliolate on margin, 

 5-6 mm. 1. Petals 8, linear-oblong to narrowly lanceolate, about 7 mm. 1., 

 3-nerved from base, minutely tomentellous near the base oYi the inside. 

 Stamens 8, shorter than sepals ; filaments minutely tomentellous at the 

 base ; anthers ovate-sagittate, minutely tomentellous. Ovary globose- 

 ellipsoidal on the elevated receptacle, 6-cellcd ; style wanting ; stigma 

 dilated, with 6 recurved glandular lobes persistent in fruit. Berry 6-celled, 

 10-11 mm. in diam. Seed about '6 mm. in diam. 



Differs from T. pcndzila Ruiz & Pav., of which there are excellent type 

 specimens in Herb. Mus. Brit., the flowers of which have ovate sepals, 

 obovate petals much longer than the sepals, and a distinct style which 

 forms a prominent beak in the fruit. 



[Family MORINGACE^. 



Trees, the root pungent to the taste and the bark yielding 

 gum. Leaves alternate, 2-3-pinnate with an odd leaflet, pinnae 

 and pinnules opposite, leaflets obovate, entire. Stipules none, 

 but sometimes glands at the base of the petioles and pinnse. 

 Panicles axillary. Flowers showy, hermaphrodite, irregular. 

 Sepals, petals and stamens perigjmous at the edge of a cup- 

 shaped receptacle. Sepals 5, unequal, spreading-reflexed, imbri- 

 cate. Petals 5, like the sepals in shape, the two upper smaller, 

 the lateral ascending, the anterior larger, spreading out. Disk 

 clothing the receptacle with a very short free margin. Stamens 

 5 perfect, alternating with 5 staminodes. Anthers 1-celled. 

 Ovary 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentas. Style tubular, open 

 at the apex. Ovules numerous, attached in two rows to the 

 placentas. Capsule long, 1-celled, dehiscing by 3 valves, which 

 bear numerous seeds in a single row along the middle of each. 

 Seeds large, 3-winged or without wings. Embryo without 

 endosperm ; cotyledons almond-like ; plumule many-leaved. 



One genus with 3 species, natives of northern Africa, western 

 tropical Asia, and the East Indies, one species [M. oleifera Lam.) 

 found throughout the tropics. 



