EvOJipmiS.'] CELASTRACE^.. 63 



Rare iu the Happy Valley woods, Champion ; only seen in a wood-cutter's bundle, 777/- 

 ford; also Wright. Not found as yet out of the island. 



3. !ES. laxifloms. Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. iii. 333 {tiot of Blime's 

 distributed Japan plants). A perfectly glabrous erect shrub, with terete 

 branches. Leaves stalked, oval- elliptical, obtusely acuminate, 1^ to 3 in. 

 long, quite entire or with a few crenatures, tapering at the base, smooth and 

 shining, with few veins. Flowers purplish, larger than in the other species, 

 spreading to about 5 lines diameter, about 7 together in loose cymes rather 

 shorter than the leaves. Petals 5, crenate, wavy at the edges. Stamens 5. 

 Ovules erect. Capsule flat at the top, with spreading lobes. 



In the Happy Valley woods, but rare. Champion ; on Mounts Parker and Gough, but not 

 common, Wilford ; also Hance and Harland. Not received from elsewhere. 



4. El. hederaceus. Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. iii. 333. A prostrate or 

 trailing glabrous shrub, rooting readily, and perhaps sometimes sending up 

 erect branches ; the young branches angular. Leaves stalked, usually ovate, 

 acuminate, 2 to 3 in. long, and narrowed at the base, but varying to narrow 

 oval-elliptical or nearly lanceolate, or occasionally very broad and obtuse, all of 

 a laurel-like consistency, with few veins. Flowers greenish-white, about 5 

 lines diameter ; few together, in cymes much shorter than the leaves. Petals 

 4, quite entire. Stamens 4. Ovules pendulous. Capsule about 5 lines 

 diameter, nearly globular, slightly 4-furrowed, but otherwise entire, 4-celled. 

 Seeds enveloped in a scarlet arillus. 



Abundant in a ravine of Victoria Peak, spreading over the rocks, Champion ; one (tree?) 

 in the Happy Valley woods, Wilford. Not found as yet out of the island. 



3. CELASTRUS, Linn. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5. Stamens 5, inserted on the margin of a fleshy disk. 

 Anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally. Ovary 2- or 3-celled, usually with 

 2 ovules in each cell. Style thick and entire. Capsule opening in 2 or 3 

 valves, 2- or 3-celled, or reduced to a single cell and seed. — Erect or climbing 

 shrubs. Flowers small, greenish, in small axillary cymes, or the upper ones 

 forming a terminal panicle. 



A genus chiefly Asiatic and African, and there tropical or subtropical, with a few North 

 American species. 



Cymes on very short peduncles. Capsules globular, scarcely 4 lines long 1 . C motwsperma. 

 Peduncles longer than the petioles. Capsules ovoid, about 6 lines long 2. C. Championi. 



1. C. monosperma, Roxh. Fl. Ind. i. 625. A trailing or climbing 

 glabrous shrub. Leaves alternate, oblong, obtusely acuminate, 3 to 5 in. long, 

 with callous serratures round the edge, narrowed into a very short petiole, 

 coriaceous and much veined, but usually shining. Flowers small, few together, 

 in little axillary cymes, on a peduncle seldom attaining 3 lines ; the upper ones 

 often forming a long narrow terminal panicle. Capsule ovoid-globose, scarcely 

 4 lines long, marked with 3 furrows and opening in 3 valves, but containing 

 only 1 seed enclosed in an orange- coloured pulpy arillus. — Celastrus Hindsii, 

 Benth. in Kew Journ. Bot. iii. 334. Catha momsperma, Benth. in Lond. 

 Journ. Bot. i. 483. 



Traihng over shrubs and trees in different parts of the island, Champion and others. Ex- 

 tends from S. China to Khasia and Sikkim. 



