SAMYDEJE. 213 



or -seeded ; valves incompletely opening, often some- 

 what pulpy inside and coloured. Seeds fixed to the 

 valves without order, with a fleshy arillus and exca- 

 vated hilum : albumen fleshy : embryo inverted, mi- 

 nute : cotyledons ovate, foliaceous : radicle pointing 

 in an opposite direction to the hilum. 



The plants belonging to this Order are lowly trees or shrubs, 

 chiefly natives of the West Indies and South America. Mr 

 Brown has remarked that they are remarkable for their leaves 

 having a mixture of round and linear pellucid dots, distinguish- 

 ing them from all other families with which they are likely to 

 be confounded. None of the species are possessed of any known 

 properties. According to De Candolle, the bark and leaves 

 are, in a slight degree, astringent. 



I. SAMYDA. 



Stamens, all of them antheriferous. Stigma globose. 

 De Cand. 



Named, from ffa/^ida, the birch, which this genus resembles in 

 the foliage. 



1. Samyda glabrata. Glabrous Samyda. 



Flowers 10-antherous, peduncles axillary 1 -flowered, 

 leaves ovato-lanceolate or oblong acuminate entire 

 shining above. 



Swartz, FL 2nd. Occ. 760. 



HAB. Not uncommon in Port-Royal mountains. 



FL. Warmer months of the year. 



A shrub, rarely more than 5 feet in height : branches alter- 

 nate, patulous, ash-coloured, subterete, roughish. Leaves dis- 

 tichal, alternate, petiolate, oblong, somewhat lanceolate towards 

 the apex, where they are slightly acuminate and subacute, en- 

 tire, somewhat shining above, glabrous, except a few minute 

 hairs beneath, pellucido-punctate, veined : petiole short. Pe- 

 duncles axillary, solitary, scarcely more than a line in length, 

 1 -flowered, furnished at the base with a pair of small ovate 

 acuminate scariose bracteas. Flowers white. Calycine tube 

 campanulate ; limb 5-partite, more than half the length of the 

 calyx; divisions (one of them occasionally smaller than the 

 rest) obtuse, externally green, internally white. Stamens 10 : 

 filaments united at the base and inserted in the throat of the 

 calyx, short, thick, white, glabrous; anthers cordate. Ovary 

 ovate, appresso-pubescent : style longer than the stamens : 

 stigma capitate. Capsule size of the plum of Europe, sub- 



