Helicteres.} xxvu. STERCULIACE^E. (Maxwell T. Masters.) 365 



6. HELICTERES, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs, more or less stellate-pubescent. Leaves simple. Floivers 

 axillary, solitary or fascicled. Calyx tubular, 5-fid, often irregular. Petals 

 5, clawed, equal or unequal, the claws often with ear-shaped appendages. 

 Staminal column adnate to the gynophore, 5-toothed or lobed at the apex ; 

 anthers in groups at the top of the column between its teeth, 2-celled, cells 

 divergent, sometimes continent. Ovary at the top of the column, 5-lobed, 

 5-celled ; styles awl-shaped, more or less united, slightly thickened and 

 stigmatose at the tips ; ovules many in each cell. Follicles spirally twisted 

 or straight. Seeds tubercled ; albumen scanty ; cotyledons leafy, folded 

 round the radicle which is next the hilum, DISTRIB. About 30 species, 

 natives of the tropics of both hemispheres, most abundant in America. 



SECT. I. -Spirocarpsea. Ripe carpels spirally twisted. 



1. H. Xsora, L. ; DC. Prodr. i. 475 ; Roxb. Fl. hid. iii. 143 ; W. & A. 



Prodr. i. GO ; Wall. Cat. 1179 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 22 ; Thwaites Enum. 

 28 ; Beddome Flor. Sylvat. Anal. Gen. t. 5; Wight Ic. t. 180; Miq. Fl. hid. 

 Bat. i. pt. 2, 169. H. chrvsocalyx, Miq. in PL Hohen. H. Roxburghii, 

 G. Don Gen. Syst. i. 507Rheede Hort. Mai. vi. t. 30. 



Dry forests throughout CENTRAL and WESTERN INDIA, from Behar, as far West as 

 Jamu, the WESTERN PENINSULA, and CEYLON. DISTRIB. Java, North Australia. 



Arborescent or shrubby. Leaves 3 by 2^ in., bifarious, obliquely cordate, roundish 

 obovate, often lobed, shortly acuminate, serrate, scabrous above, pubescent beneath ; 

 petiole { in., as long as the linear subulate stipules. Peduncles 2-3 together, in a short 

 axillary cyme. Bracteoles small, subulate. Flowers \\ in. Calyx gibbous, laterally 

 compressed, somewhat 2-lipped. Petals reflexed, red at first, fading to lead colour, very 

 unequal in size, 2 lower much the largest, claw winged. Staminodes 5 emarginate 

 scales. Stamens 10; anthers ovate. Fruit cylindric, beaked, pubescent. 



VAR. 1. tomentosa; under side of leaves tomentose, W. & A. I.e.; Wall. Cat. 

 1179 F. The Western and Central forms are mostly of this variety. 



VAR. 2. glabrescens ; under side of leaves nearly glabrous, W. & A. I.e. ; Wall. Cat. 

 1179 C partly, E partly. Miquel's H. chrysocalyx is a large-flowered form of this 

 variety, to which most of the Southern forms belong. 



SECT. IT. Orthocarpsea. Ripe carpels straight, not spirally twisted. 



2. H. ang-ustifolia, L. ; DC. Prodr. i. 476 ; leaves glabrous above 

 cano-tomentose beneath, ripe carpels stellate-pilose sometimes mossy. 

 Wall. Cat. 1180. H. lanceolata, DC. Prodr. i. 476. H. virgata, Wall. 

 Cat. 1181. Oudemansia integerrima, Miq. PI. Jungh. i. 296; FL fnd. Bat. 

 i. pt. 2, 170. O. integerrima var. /3 angustifolia, Hassk. Hort. Bog. i. 98 ; 

 Miq. I.e. 



MERGUI, Griffith; MALACCA. DISTRIB. Java, Siam, China. 



Shrubby. Leaves 3 by in. ; base tapering, 3-nerved, entire or minutely serrulate ; 

 petiole i in. Cymes racemose-fasciculate ; peduncles 1 in. Calyx $ in. Petals linear, 

 longer than the stamens, with two teeth at the base of the limb. Carpels 4 to f in., 

 oblong, obtuse, apiculate. Varies in breadth of leaf and amount of pubescence. 



3. H. elong-ata, Wall. Cat. 1845; leaves obliquely oblong-lanceolate 

 serrate thinly stellate hdry above pubescent and stellate-hairy beneath, 

 ripe carpels stellate-hairy c r m >ssy. 



AVA, at Taong Dong ; BIRMA, Griffith, Wallich ; EASTERN BENGAL, Sikkim, alt. 

 1000 ft., /. D. H. DISTRIB. Yunan. 



A diffuse, straggling shrub ; branches very slender, stellate hairy. Leaves 3 by 1^ in. ; 

 petiole -4 in. Cymes elongate, terminal, nearly as long as the leaves, many-flowered. 



