ME HIERN, ON EBENACEJE. 241 



shining and glabrous or nearly so with depressed midrib above, pubescent puberulous or 

 nearly, glabrescent beneath especially on the marked midrib and recurved margins (hairs 

 rufous in dried state ; leaves bordered when young with white hairs which fall off, 

 according to Aublet) ; lateral veins several, slender ; leaves 3 8 in. long by 1 2 J in. 

 wide ; petioles \ f in. long, glabreseent. Bracts rufous-hairy. 



<? . Flowers in axillary subsessile clusters, ^ in. long, rufous-hairy. Calyx ^ in. long, 

 acutely 4-fid ; lobes deltoid. Corolla fleshy, campanulate or campanulate-oblong, sweet- 

 scented, quadrangular, with a short inflated tube and 4 short lobes, glabrous, inside 

 (ferruginous on both sides ex Vriese), 4-fid. Stamens 16 !, united by their filaments in 

 8 pairs (18 ex Aublet, about 13 ex Alph. DC., 8 ex Vriese), the inner ones the 

 shorter; anthers linear-lanceolate, hairy at the back of the outer ones and at the front 

 of the inner ones; filaments short, glabrous. Ovary rudimentary, ferruginous-hairy. 



9 . Flowers (subsolitary ex DC.) few together in axillary subsessile clusters. Staminodes 

 8. Ovary 8-celled ; cells 1-ovuled. Fruit solitary or 2 together, subsessile, shining and 

 glabrate or with some persistent ferruginous hairs, globose, about 1 in. in diameter, 

 pericarp at length splitting from apex, 3 4-seeded. Fruiting calyx with 4 lobes cordate 

 at base, rufous-hairy especially on the undulating margins, on the centre of the back and 

 inside, suberect or spreading, |- 1 in. across. Seeds oblong, \ in. long ; albumen not ruminated. 



A decoction of the bark is said to be useful in case of fever in Guiana, where the 

 plant is known by the name of Parala. 



French Guiana, Cayenne, Sagot ! n. 1253, Martin /; Guiana, Mrs Parker I ; British 

 Guiana, Schomburgkf 1492; Surinam, Hostmann! 547, Splitgerber, 541; S. Venezuela, 

 near the rivers Casiquiari, Vasiva and Pacimoni, Spruce! 3159 $ flower (arbor gracilis 

 18-pedalis, ramulis longis pendulis. Flores flavo-virides. In ripis inundatis per totum Casi- 

 quiarem, necnon in Orinoco superiore, Nov. 1853) ; Brazil, by the south bank of the 

 Rio Negro close to its junction with the Solimoes, Spruce ! 1516, in fruit (small tree 

 with subverticillate subsimple branches, fruit green, seeds immersed in flesh, D. longifolia, 

 Spruce). 



According to Mr Spruce, his D. longifolia has the branches arranged in whorls of five 

 (very rarely three or four), while in D. Paralea the branches are alternate. The branches 

 however in D. Paralea are sometimes verticillate. 



121. DIOSPYROS RHODOCALYX, Kurz in Journ. Asiat. Bengal, Vol. XL. Part II. p. 71. n. 91 (1871). 



D. foliis oblongis vel ovali-oblongis, apice obtusis, basi angustatis, chartaceis, suprcb glabris, 

 lucidis, subtus secus costam pnbescentibus, "breviter petiolatis; floribus masculis tetrameris, 

 brevissime cymosis, calyce dense fulw-pubescente, lobis oblongo-lanceolatis obtusiusculis, coroUd 

 glabrd, urceolatd, staminibiis circiter 16 corollce basi insertis ; floribus femineis solitariis, sta- 

 minodiis 8 10, ovario dense fulvo-tomenloso, 4>-loculari (?). 



Flora, 1871, p. 332, 



, : . A small tree with young parts appressedly pubescent. Leaves oblong or oval-oblong, 



rarely obovate-oblong, retuse or rarely (on the same stock) obtusely apiculate, on slender and 



short petioles, acute or obtuse at base, chartaeeous, of variable size 1 2 or 3 4 in. long, 



VOL. XII. PART I. 31 



