Rhodamnia.'] Lix. MYRTACEJJ. (J. F. Duthie.) 469 



fewer 2 or solitary. E. spectabilis, Blume Mm. Sot. i. 78 ; Miq. I. c. 479 ; Kurz I.e. 

 E. cinerea, Jack in Mai. Misc. Monoxora spectabilis, Wight 111. ii. 12, t. 97*, f. 5; 

 E. Nageli, Miq. I.e. E. subtriflora and E. Mulleri, Bl. I.e. 79. 



6. RHOD01KYRTUS, DC. 



Trees or tomentose shrubs. Leaves opposite, 5- or 3-nerved. Flowers rather 

 large, axillary. Calyx-tube turbinate, oblong or subglobose, hardly produced 

 above the ovary ; lobes 5 rarely 4, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 5, rarely 4, 

 spreading. Stamens oo, free, in many series. Ovary 1- 2- 3-celled with spuri- 

 ous partitions, or divided into numerous 1-ovuled superposed cells ; style fili- 

 form, stigma capitate. Berry drupelike, globose or ovoid, with few or numerous 

 seeds not distinctly superposed in rows. Seeds compressed, reniform or nearly 

 orbicular, horizontal, testa hard; embryo curved or spiral, radicle very long, 

 cotyledons small. DISTRIB. 5 species, 4 of them, inhabitants of E. Australia, 

 and 1 widely distributed over Tropical Asia, especially throughout the Indian 

 Archipelago as far as China. 



1. R. tomentosa, Wight Spicil. Neilgh. i. 60, t. 71 ; branches downy 

 above slightly compressed, leaves elliptic or obovate obtuse shortly petioled 

 3-nerved hoary on the underside with soft tomentum, peduncles axillary shorter 

 than the leaves 1-3-fl., flowers with 2 ovate bracteoles at the base, calyx 

 tomentose 5-cleft, lobes unequal, berry oval or subglobose 3-celled, seeds com- 

 pressed forming 2 rows in each cell. Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 477 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Hongk. 121 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. Anal. Gen. t. xiv. Myrtus tomentosa, Ait. ; 

 DC. Prodr. iii. 240; Vahl Symb. ii. 56; Blume Brjdr. 1081 ; W. $ A. Prodr. 

 i. 328 ; Wight III. ii. 12, t, 97*, f. 3, Ic. 522 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 498 ; Wall. 

 Cat. 3630; Korth. in Ned. Kruidk. Arch. i. 197. M. canescens, Lour. Fl. 

 Cochinc. i. 311. 



WESTERN PENINSULA, Pulney Hills, Beddome ; Nilghiris, Adam. EASTERN' PEN- 

 INSULA, MALACCA, Griffith. Maingay ; SINGAPORE and PENANG, Thomson, Anderson. 

 CEYLON, alt. 6-8000 ft., Walker, $c. 



A shrub, 4-5 ft. ; young parts clothed with thick tomentum. Lower leaves in 

 threes, upper ones and those of the branches opposite, 1-2| in. with 3 or rarely 5 pro- 

 minent nerves starting from near the base, dark brown above, at length glabrous and 

 shining, hoary beneath and rugose. Peduncles about half the length of the leaves, 

 bearing 1-3 large pink flowers -f in. across. Petals downy outside, shortly clawed. 

 Berry about the size of a cherry, dark purple, pulp fleshy, sweet and aromatic. Col. 

 Beddome says that this is abundant on the higher mountains in the Madras Presi- 

 dency, and is known at Ootacamund as " Hill Gooseberry." The fruit is eaten raw, 

 or made into jam called " Thaonty." Its wood is whjte with pink heart, the grain 

 close and cutting like cheese, but splitting when seasoned ; useful for small turnery. 



7. IDECASPERIVIUIVI, Forst. 



Shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite, pinnate-nerved. Flowers small, in 

 axillary racemes, and sometimes forming terminal leafy panicles, occasionally 

 polygamous. Calyx-tube campanulate, scarcely or not at all produced above 

 the ovary ; lobes 4 or 5, spreading. Stamens oo, in several series, free, fila- 

 ments filiform ; anthers small, versatile, with parallel cells opening longitudi- 

 nally. Ovary 4- or 5-celled with 2 or very few ovules in each cell; cells 

 often divided by spurious dissepiments ; style filiform, stigma peltate. Berry 



