MONIMIACEJE. 305 



copious oily, fleshy albumen, with an apical embryo, whose radicle 

 is superior and cylindrical, and whose cotyledons are broad and 

 flattened.' 



The genus Tmnhourissn consists of trees or shrubs, with oppo- 

 site, or rarely alternate," exstipulate leaves. The flowers are 

 dioecious, or more rarely monojcious, axillary or terminal, solitary or 

 collected into simple or cymose racemes.^ A dozen species^ are 

 known, from Bourbon, Mauritius, Madagascar, and the neigh- 

 bouring islands of the Indian Ocean. A single species has been 

 observed in Java. 



The remarkable structure of the fruit of Tamhovrissa has led most 

 authors to put the genus into a special tribe* of the order Moni- 

 miacece. In this order is another genus, in which we also observe 

 a singular hypertrophy of the receptacular sac in the intervals 

 between the true fruits — the genus S/parniia, which we shall now 

 study, and which we include in the same series as the foregoing on 

 account of this peculiarity. Still, it might be placed in a group 

 apart, for its ovules are ascending instead of pendulous, and the 

 compartments inclosing the drupes do not embrace them closely 

 as in Tambourissa, but are Hke unequal irregularly pyramidal cham- 

 bers, with whose walls the ovaries are not at first in contact, as we 

 shall presently see. 



In this genus' (figs. 352-356) the flowers are monoecious, or more 

 frequently dioecious. In both sexes the receptacle and perianth are 

 blended to form a sort of sac of very variable form, sometimes 

 rounded and globular, sometimes obconical or obovate, with the 



1 These are slightly auricled at the base, and BoJ., Eort. Mam:, 290. — TuL., Ann. Se. Nat., 

 may touch one another over the whole of the loc. cit., 29 ; Man., 297, t. xxv-xxvii. — A. DC, 

 upper surface ; but they are very frequently Frocb:, loc. cif. — Walp., Ann., iv. 84. 

 directed obliquely in opposite directions, so that " Sycioidea s. Amborem TuL., op. cit., 295. — 

 they do not cover each other completely, but are Tambourissece A. DC, loc. cit. 



separated towards their extremities by a large ^ Aubl., Giiian., ii. (1775), 8fi4. — Juss., Gen., 



sinus; their planes, however, are parallel, always 443. — CitUEG., Z/nna a, xx. 113 ; Ann. Sc. Kat., 



remaining unaffected by this obliquity. The ser. 3, vii. 376. — A. DC, Prodr., xvi. s. post., 



plumule already consists of several little imbri- 6)2. — H. Bn., Adansonia, ix. 121, 125,131. — 



cated leaves. Citrosma R. & Paa'., Prodr. Fl. Per. et Chil. 



2 As in T. alternifoUa A. DC, op. cit., 660.— (1794), 134, t. 29 ; Syst., i. (1798), 263.— Exdl., 

 Ambora aUernifolia TVL., Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 4, Gen., n. 2017. — Leonia Mux., ex Ttjl., Man., 

 iii. 31, n. 8 ; Man., 305. — Walp., Ann., iv. 87. 312 (nee R. & Pay.). — ConuUum A. Rich., Mem. 



3 Often as many as two or three of the secon- Soc. Hist. Nat. Par., i. (1823), 391, 406, t. 25. 

 dary axes may spring, one above the other, from — Sciiltl., in DC, Prodr., xiv. 6U8. — Angelina 

 the axil of a single leaf or bract; thus recalling Pom, ex Tul., Mon. 363. — Cilriosma Tul., 

 the arrangement of the floral axes in Calycanthus. Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 4, iii. (1S55), 32 ; ^f")l., 311, 



•* SoNNEB., loc. cif., 1. 134. — W., Spec, i. 27. — t. xxviii-xxx. 



VOL. I. . X 



