470 LIX. MTKTACE2E. (J. F. Dnthie.) [Decaspermum. 



globular, crowned with the calyx-lobes. Seeds few, reniform ; testa hard ; 

 embryo hippocrepiform or circular, with a long radicle and short linear cotyle- 

 dons. DISTRIB. Species about 4, inhabiting Tropical Asia and Australia, and 

 the Pacific Islands. 



Closely related to Myrtus. 



1. D. paniculatum, Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. Seng. xlvi. (1877) pt. ii. 

 p. 61 ; For. Fl. Brit. Burm. i. 475 ; leaves shortly petioled oblong acumi- 

 nate suddenly narrowing below, flowers in terminal and axillary panicles 

 often polygamous, calyx-lobes roundish or subacute, ovary 4-celled. Nelitria 

 paniculata, Lindl. Collect, under No. 16 ; DC. Prodr. iii. 231 ; Wall. Cat. 

 3627 ; Wight III. ii. 12, t. 97*, f. 10, Ic. 521 ; Benth. Fl. Austral, iii. 279. 

 N. polygama, Spreng. Syst. ii. 488; Korth. in Ned. Kruidk. Arch. \. 197,. 

 N. pallescens, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. i. 314. Eugenia polygama, Roxb* 

 Hort. Beng. 92 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 491. E. cuspidata, Wall. Cat. 3627. 



EASTERN BENGAL, KHASIA MTS. ; PEGTJ, Kurz ; MERGTJI, Griffith ; MALACCA,. 

 Maingay, Cuming. DISTKIB. Java, Philippines, Australia. 



A shrub or small tree ; young parts and inflorescence covered with silky pubes- 

 cence. Leaves 2 by about 1 in., abruptly contracted at the base, cuspidate-acuminate, 

 dark and glossy above, paler and often of a reddish colour beneath. Panicles ascending, 

 equalling or exceeding the leaves ; bracts leaflike, or small and deciduous. Flowers 

 small, crowded. Calyx-tube more or less clothed with white hairs; lobes usually 

 less hairy or nearly glabrous. Petals ciliate. Style exserted. Berry globose, about 

 in. This plant varies much in the size of the flowers, the shape of the calyx-lobes, 

 and in the degree of hairiness. I have given M. pallescens as a synonym on the 

 authority of Kurz (Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xl. 57). Some of Maingay's Malacca 

 specimens with an abnormally congested leafy inflorescence somewhat resemble N. 

 leucocoma. 



VAK. khasiana ; leaves narrower, panicles long peduncled lax few -flowered,, 

 flowers larger, petals f longer than the calyx. Khasia, Griffith, J. D. H. $ T. T. t 

 Kurz. 



VAB. Finlaysoniana ; leaves thicker, panicles shorter than the leaves, calyx-tube 

 densely clothed with white torn en turn, lobes all rounded and less hairy, stamens 

 nearly equalling the petals. N. polymorpha, Blume Mus. Bot. i. 75, t. Ix. ; Hirsea 

 Finlaysoniana, Wall. Cat. 7263. No locality given, Finlayson, Lobb. 



8. EUGENIA,/,//^. 

 t 



Trees or shrubs, smooth or rarely tomentose or villous. Leaves opposite 

 rarely alternate, coriaceous or membranous, pinnate-nerved. Inflorescence cen- 

 tripetal with solitary axillary flowers, or in short racemes (leafless branches), 

 or centrifugal in dense terminal cymes, or in terminal or lateral trichotornous 

 panicles. Bracts usually small and deciduous. Calyx-tube globose or more or 

 less elongate ; lobes 4 rarely 5. Petals 4 rarely 5 or more or 0, free and spread- 

 ing or united in a calyptra. Stamens oo, in many rows, free or slightly com- 

 bined into 4 bundles, filaments filiform; anthers small, versatile, bursting 

 longitudinally. Ovary 2- rarely 3-celled ; style filiform, stigma small ; ovules oo 

 in each cell. Berry drupelike, rarely dry and fibrous, crowned with the persis- 

 tent calyx-limb. Seeds few, globose, variously compressed, testa membranous 

 or cartilaginous ; embryo thick and fleshy, radicle short, cotyledons thick 

 more or less united or distinct. DISTRIB. Upwards of 700 species inhabiting 

 chiefly tropical and subtropical America, tropical Asia, a few in Australia 

 and Africa. 



