Aucuha^ C0RNACE7K. 139 



smaller than the other. Female panicle pyramidal, 5 in. long, loosely many- 

 flowered, with a few bracts at the base, 3 to 6 lines long, and covered with 

 rusty hairs. Ovaries (as yet but little enlarged) oblong, 3 or 4 lines long, on 

 short thick pedicels, otherwise precisely similar in structure to those of tlie 

 A. japonica. Male flowers and petals of the female unknown. 



Hongkong, Harland. The single specimen I have seen is akeady past flower. It ap- 

 pears veiy different from the common Japanese species ; but it is possible that a better know- 

 ledge of the plant may prove it to be a variety only. 



Ordee LIY. HALORAGE^. 



Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, the limb entu-e or with as many teeth or 

 lobes as petals. Petals 2 or 4, inserted round an epigynous disk or on the 

 calyx-border, or none. Stamens as many or sometimes fewer, inserted with 

 the petals. Ovary inferior, 1- or more celled, with 1 pendidous ovule in each 

 cell. Stigmas as many as cells of the ovaiy, sessile. Fruit diy and inde- 

 hiscent, 1- or more celled. Seeds solitaiy, pendidous, with a fleshy albumen. 

 Embiyo straight, with a superior radicle and small cotyledons. — Herbs, 

 often aquatic, rarely woody at the base. Leaves opposite or alternate or 

 sometimes whorled. Flowers small, axillaiy or in tenninal racemes or pani- 

 cles. 



A small Order, widely dispersed over the globe, usually associated with Onagracecs, but 

 which has recently been shown to have more affinity with Cornacece, from which it differs 

 chiefly lq the herbaceous habit and reduced flowers. 



1. HALORAGIS, Forst. 



(Goniocarpus, Keen.) 



Calyx-tube (or ovaiy) terete or angular, the limb of 4 persistent lobes. 

 Petals 4, concave, deciduous. Stamens 4 to 8 ; anthers long, on very short 

 filaments. Stigmas 4, sessile. Fnut small, hard, indehiscent, 2- to 4-lobed, 

 2- to 4-celled. Embryo cylindiical. — Herbs. Leaves opposite or alternate, 

 undivided. Flowers small, solitary or clustered, in the upper axils or in ter- 

 minal racemes. 



Chiefly an Australian genus, with 2 or 3 species, either east Asiatic or ranging widely over 

 the southern hemisphere without the tropics. 



1. H. scabra, Benth. A weak, decumbent, branching herb, more or 

 less rough with minute haii's ; the slender 4-angled stems from 6 in. to 1 ft. 

 long. Leaves nearly sessile, lanceolate, ^ to 1 in. long, with a few sciTa- 

 tures. Flowers about \\ lines long, almost sessile, and solitaiy under each 

 bract, forming slender, tenninal, one-sided racemes or intemiptcd spikes, 

 usually branching into narrow panicles. Petals twice the length of the calyx- 

 lobes. Anthers 8, neariy as long as the petals, the 4 inner ones more slender 

 and apparently steiile. ' Srigmas short, divided at the top into a tuft of hair- 

 like lobes. — Goniocarpus scaber, Keen. ; DC. Prod. iii. 61. 



Common on grassy slopes, Champion and others. Also in Khasia. 



