SALIC1KELE 543 



Stem shrubby, erect, terete, pubescent, deep purple ; 1st inter- 

 node 1'5 mm. long ; 2nd and 3rd very short or undeveloped. 



Leaves simple, cauline, alternate, stipulate, petiolate, greyish, 

 pubescent above, densely so or tomentose beneath, alternately 

 incurvinerved and reticulate, but most distinctly so beneath ; petioles 

 short, dilated at the base, somewhat channelled above, pubescent, 

 brownish or purple ; stipules small and rather variable, half reni- 

 form, revolute at the margin, pubescent or tomentose like the leaves, 

 reticulate. 



Nos. 1 and 2. Small, ovate, acute, entire or with a small tooth on 

 each side. 



No. 3. Tapering to the base, oval, acute. 



Ultimate leaves variable, oblong-elliptic, or subobovate, or 

 oblong-lanceolate, obtuse at the apex, or very shortly cuspidate, 

 sub undulate and revolute at the margin, the latter at least when 

 dry, entire or distantly serrulate. 



GNETACEJE. 



Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI in. 417. 



Fruit and Seed. There is no ovary in this Order, and the 

 naked ovule has a double or triple coat, the outer one of which 

 is fleshy or thin and fibrous and the innermost membranous 

 and produced into a long, slender tube above the nucellus, ex- 

 serted from the mouth of the outer coat and simulating a style. 

 The nucellus is ovoid or conical, solid or nearly so before ferti- 

 lisation, but after that less solid. The seed is drupaceous or 

 membranous and compressed, erect, and contains a thin or 

 moderately thick layer of endosperm. The embryo is straight 

 with the cotyledons longer or shorter than the radicle. 



One type of the Order is represented byEphedra altissima 

 (fig. 675). The fruit consists of an ovoid or conical seed 

 enclosed in a tubular, red cup consisting of two connate 

 bracts, free at the tips and leaving an opening between them 

 beyond which the seed projects. At the base of this cup 

 externally are two much shorter and decussating pairs of 

 connate bracts. The outer coat of the seed is crustaceous and 



