336 PIPERACE.E. \Chavica. 



males ratlier more than 1 in., the female shorter. Bracts peltate, glabrous. 

 Stamens 2. Stigmas usually 3. Berries nearly distinct, half-imbedded in 

 the rhachis. 



In ravines of Victoria Peak, Champion: creeping over rocks iu a ravine of Mount Davis, 

 WUford; also Earland. Not known out of the island. 



Order ClI. GNETACE^. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, in spikes or heads. Male flowers 1 or 

 more ; stamens protruding from a split or 2-lobed bract (or perianth). An- 

 thers 2-celled. Female flowers a naked ovule (that is, without ovary or style), 

 enclosed in an entire, ovoid, or tubular bract (or perianth) open at the top. 

 Fruit a dmpe or beriy, consisting of the persistent succulent bract enclosing 

 a single seed. Embryo straight, in the axis of a copious albumen. — Trees, 

 shrubs, or undershrubs, the branches articulate at the nodes. Leaves oppo- 

 site, entii-e (in Ephedra small and scale-like). 



A smaU Order, dispersed over the tropical and temperate regions of the New and the Old 

 World. 



1. GNETUM. 



Flowers verticillate in articulated spikes, each whorl in a cup-shaped an- 

 nular bract. Stamen 1. — Leaves stalked, flat. Flowers small, intermixed 

 with articulated hau's. 



A small tropical genus common to the New and the Old AYorld. 



1. G. scandenSy Roxh. Fl. hid. iii. 518. A stout climbing glabrous 

 shrub, the specimens usually turning black in drying. Leaves oblong or oval- 

 oblong, shortly acuminate, 4 to 6 in. long, coriaceous. Peduncles terminal or 

 axillary, bearing 1 or 2 pair of opposite spikes, each about 1 or li in. 

 long when in flower ; the annular bracts very close, each containing a large 

 number of clavate male flowers opening on one side, and a single row of minute 

 ovoid female ones. When in fruit the rhachis lengthens to several inches 

 and the bracts are distant. Drupes ovoid-oblong, f to near 1 in. long. — G. 

 funicularey Siu.?; Wight, Ic. t. 19o5. 



Hongkong, Champion, Hance, Wright. In the hilly districts of India, from the Penin- 

 sula to the Archipelago. Miqiiel, after Blume, desci-ibes the G. funicular e as dioecious. The 

 Hongkong specimens I have examined have certainly the female flowers intermixed with the 

 males, as described by Roxburgh. 



Order CIII. CONIFEE^. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, iu cylindrical or short catkins, with closely 

 packed scales, or the females solitary. Stamens inserted either on the axis of 

 the catkin under the scales, or the anther-cells sessile on the inside of the 

 scales themselves, which then form part of the stamens. Ovules and seeds 

 naked, that is, without ovary, style, or pericarp, either inserted under the cat- 

 kin-scales or solitary and quite exposed. Seeds alliuminous. Embryo axile, 

 usually with 3 or more cotyledons. — Trees or shrubs, mostly with resinous 



