550 xc. EBENACE*;. (C. B. Clarke.) [Mala. 



inferior, gamosepalous, in fruit often accrescent. Corolla gamopetalous, often 

 hairy without. Stamens as many or 2-3 times as many as the corolla-lobes, 

 hypogynous, free or filaments paired or variously united ; anthers narrow, de- 

 hiscing longitudinally ; staminodes in the female flower resembling stamens or 

 0. Ovary superior, sessile ; styles 2-8 ; cells as many or twice as many as 

 the styles, imperfectly septate ; ovules twice as many as the styles, attached 

 to the interior angle of the cells, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit coriaceous or 

 fleshy, indehiscent, several- or few-seeded. Seeds pendulous, usually oblong, 

 longitudinally 2-3-furrowed, testa thin, albumen copious equable or ruminated; 

 embryo axile, radicle superior. Species 250, in the tropics of the whole world ; 

 a few species in South Africa and North America. 



Flowers often 3-merous. Ovary 3- or 6-celled 1. MABA. 



Flowers mostly 4-5-merous. Ovary 4-5- or 8-10-celled .... 2. DIOSPYROS. 



1. MABA, J. R. $ G. Forst. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers dioecious (monoecious in 

 M. Maingayi), axillary, short-pedicelled or in small dense cymes ; usually 3- 

 merous, rarely 4-5-merous. Calyx 3-5-partite or 3-5-fid, rarely subtruncate, 

 often cupuliform and enlarged in fruit. Corolla-tube usually longer than the 

 calyx, lobes 3, twisted to the right-hand. Male jflowers : stamens 3-22 ; fila- 

 ments distinct, paired or otherwise united ; anthers oblong ; ovary rudimentary. 

 Female flowers : staminodes 0-12 ; ovary 3-celled, or 6-celled, or 3-celled with 

 imperfect dissepiments between the ovules; 6-ovulate. Fruit ellipsoid or 

 globose, glabrous or hairy, 1-6-celled, 1-6-seeded. Albumen not ruminated 

 (where known) in any of the Indian species except M. Maingayi. DISTEIB. 

 Species 60, in the tropics of both hemispheres and frequent in Australia and 

 Polynesia. 



SECT. I. Ferreola (Hiern in Trans. Oanib. Phil. Soc. xii. 107). Calyx- 

 lobes not much imbricated. Ovary densely hairy. 



* Fruiting calyx small, 3-partite, patent or rejlexed. 



1. AC. acuminata, Hiern in Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. xii. 112 ; leaves 

 elliptic much acuminate, stamens 4-5, fruit ^ in. diam. tomentose. Macreightia 

 acuminata, Thwaites JEnum. 424 ; Sedd. For. Man. 147. 



CEYLON ; Hinidoon Pattoo, Thwaites. 



A medium-sized tree ; branchlets fulvo-sericeous, soon glabrescent. Leaves 3 by 

 1-1 in., thinly coriaceous, soon glabrescent; base rhomboid or almost rounded; 

 petiole ^ in. Malefl.: calyx in.; corolla-tube in.; rudiment of ovary oblong, 

 acute, pilose. 



2. IK. oblongifolia, Hiern in Tram. Camb. Phil. Soc. xii. 112 ; leaves 

 oblong or elliptic acuminate, stamens about 12, fruit f-1 in. diam. brown 

 tomentose almost hirsute. Macreightia oblongifolia, Thwaites Enum. 183; 

 Sedd. Fl. Sylv. (Anal. Gen.) t. 21, fig. 1, and For. Man. 147, not of Kurz. 



CEYLON ; Galle and Ratnapoora, Thwaites. 



A small tree ; branchlets patently fulvous-hairy, at length glabrescent. Leaves 

 6 by 2^ in., bage rounded, subcoriaceous, patently fulvous hairy on the nerves beneath, 

 ultimately glabrous ; petiole - in. Male fl. crowded, sessile ; calyx \ in., shortly 

 3-lobed ; corolla-tube % in., limb 3-fid ; stamens glabrous ; rudiment of ovary minute, 

 pilose. Female, fl. solitary, subsessile ; calyx \ in., divided nearly to the base ; 

 corolla-limb 3-fid ; stamens ; ovary 3-celled, style divided into 3 glabrous stigmas. 

 Fruit 3 -6-seeded. Seeds | by in., black, albumen equable. 



