MR HIERN, ON EBENACE^. 



107 



Pisonia (sp.) Rottb. in Nye Saml. Kong. Danske Skriffc. vol. II. p. 536. t. 4. f. 2 (1783) 

 Ehretia (sp.), Willd. Phytogr. I. p. 4. t. 2. f. 2 (1794). 

 Ferreola, Roxburgh, PL Coromandel, I. p. 35. t. 45 (1795). 



Ferriola, Roxburgh, Hort. Bengal, p. 72 (1814), Fl. Ind. edit. 1832. vol. III. p. 790. 

 Macreightia, Alph. DC. Prodr. vm. p. 220. n. v. (1844). 

 Holochilus, Dalzell in Kew Journal of Botany, iv. p. 290 (1852). 

 Rhipidostigma, Hasskarl, Retzia, I. p. 103 (1855). 



Flowers dioecious or rarely polygamous or very rarely monoscious, usually trimerous, occa- 

 sionally 4 6-merous. Calyx usually 3-fid, sometimes 4 6-fid or -partite or shortly lobed, 

 rarely truncate and entire ; more or less campanulate at least in flower, sometimes accrescent 

 but less so than in many species of Diospyros, not plicate. Corolla usually 3-lobed, exceeding 

 the calyx, campanulate or tubular; lobes contorted sinistrorsely as regarded from within. 

 Stamens in 6 flower 3 oo usually about 9 and glabrous except in Trichanthera, distinct 

 or some or all united by their filaments in pairs or otherwise ; anthers oblong or lanceo- 

 late-linear, dehiscing longitudinally by lateral slits ; filaments inserted at base of corolla or 

 hypogynous ; staminodes in 9 flower oo , usually fewer than in $ flower, glabrous or 

 hairy. Ovary in <J rudimentary, hairy or glabrous ; in 2 3- or 6-celled, hairy or glabrous ; 

 style 3-lobed or styles 3 ; ovules 6, solitary in the cells or 2 together in 3-celled ovaries ; 

 rarely an ovary is 3-celled with 3 imperfect septa between the pairs of ovules not 

 reaching the central axis of the ovary. Fruit usually globose or ovoid, glabrous or hairy, 

 1 6-celled and -seeded, usually not exceeding 1 in. long, baccate or dry ; seeds as in the 

 Order, in a few species with ruminated albumen. Fruiting calyx spreading or cupuliform. 

 Trees or shrubs usually with hard wood, widely distributed in most countries where the 

 Order is represented but absent from the Cape of Good Hope, though occurring in Natal 

 and other parts of Africa, 



Leaves always alternate simple and quite entire, smaller for the most part than in Dio- 

 spyros, but reaching 10J in. in length in M. punctata. Flowers solitary or in short cymes 

 either axillary or very rarely lateral on the older branches. 



The name is adopted from that locally used in the Friendly Islands for plants of this 

 genus. Maba is also given by the natives in the vicinity of the Congo river, West tropical 

 Africa, to the fruit of the oil-palm (Elceis guineensis). 



MABA may be divided into the following sections, a key to which is subjoined. 

 Anthers glabrous or in a few species slightly hairy. Flowers trimerous or occasionally 



tetramerous or rarely in M. lancea pentamerous. 

 Calyx-lobes not much imbricated. 



Ovary densely hairy (except in M. obovata, R. Br.) 



Staminodes 0. Ovary 3-celled. 1. FERREOLA. 



Staminodes 36. Ovary 6-celled. 2. MACREIGHTIA. 



Ovary glabrous (pubescent or nearly glabrous in M. Seychellarum). 



Flowers sessile or subsessile. Ovary 3- or 6-celled. 3. HOLOCHILUS. 

 Flowers crowded in short branched or fascicled cymes 



( 2 flowers solitary in M. lamponga). Ovary 6-celled. 4. RHIPIDOSTIGMA. 

 Calyx-lobes rounded and much imbricated so as to make the ca- 

 lyx appear subtruncate. 5. BARBERIA. 

 Anthers pilose. Flowers 3 6-merous. Ovary hairy, 6-celled. 6. TRICHANTHERA. 



142 



