Aspidopterys.] XV. MALPIGIIIACEjE. 45 



A large climber. Leaves cordate or ovate-cordate, long-acuminate, 4-6 

 in. long; petiole f in. long. Under side of leaves, young shoots, and in- 

 florescence clothed with soft, grey, silky tomentum. Flowers J in. across. 

 Ovaries tomentose, with long white hairs. Wings of fruit oval, 1 J in. long. 



Nepal, Kamaon (to 4000 ft.), Dehra Doon. Fl. June. 



A. nutans, A. Juss. Syn. Hircea nutans, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 447 ; W. & A. 

 Prodr. 108, is similar, but has glabrous leaves and longer petioles. Bengal. 



A. Roxburghiana, A. Juss. syn. Triopteris indica, Roxb. Cor. pi. t. 160 ; 

 Hiroea indica, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 448, W. & A. Prodr. 108 has glabrous leaves, 

 ovary with short hairs, and oblong fruit- wings. South India, Bengal, Nepal, 

 Burma. 



Order XVI. GERANIACEiE. 



Herbs or shrubs, rarely trees, with opposite or alternate leaves. Flowers 

 bisexual. Sepals 5, rarely fewer, free or more or less connate. Petals 

 as many as sepals or wanting, hypogynous or perigynous, imbricate or 

 contorted. Stamens generally twice the number of petals ; anthers versa- 

 tile, 2-celled, without connective, the cells parallel, dehiscing longitudin- 

 ally. Ovary of 3-5 carpels, 3-5-celled and -lobed, the carpels adnate to the 

 axis below ; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, rarely numerous (as in Averrhoa). 

 Fruit various ; albumen scanty or none. Gen. PL i. 269 ; Royle 111. 152 ; 

 Wight 111. i. 160 (Oxalidece). 



1. AVEBRHOA, Linn. 

 Trees with alternate, imparipinnate leaves, without stipules. Flowers 

 in cymose panicles, small, regular. Sepals 5, imbricate. Petals 5, hypo- 

 gynous, contorted. Stamens 10, slightly connate at the base, 5 shorter, 

 5 longer. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled ; styles distinct, with capitate stigmas ; 

 ovules numerous in each cell. Fruit oblong, fleshy, indehiscent. Seeds 

 2-5 in each cell, with or without arillus ; embryo straight, with thin 

 foliaceous cotyledons in a fleshy albumen. 



Leaflets ovate, acuminate, 2-5 pair ; fruit acutely angled ; seeds 



arillate . . . . . . . 1. A. Carambola. 



Leaflets oblong, acuminate, 5-12 pair ; fruit obtusely angled ; 



seeds without arillus*. . . . . .2.-4. Bilimbi. 



1. A. Carambola, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 450 W. & A. Prodr. 

 141. Sans. Karmara, karma-ranga. Vern. Kamaranga. 



A tree, with close, thick-set, drooping branches ; leaflets subopposite, 

 pale beneath, glabrous or slightly pubescent, ovate, acuminate, 2-5 pair ; 

 petiolules short, pubescent. Flowers small, variegated with white and 

 purple, in panicles, generally axillary, sometimes from the old wood. 

 Calyx glabrous. The 5 shorter stamens usually very minute, and wholly 

 without anthers, or occasionally 1 or 2 of them longer, with small 

 brown anthers. Fruit obovoid-oblong, 3 in. long, with acute angles, yel- 

 low. Funicle of seed dilated into a fleshy, bilabiate, irregularly-cut 

 arillus. 



Native country unknown, probably in the Indian Archipelago. Cultivated 

 on account of its fruit for ages in tropical and subtropical India, as far north as 



