E0SACE2E. 399 



trees, erect or bushy. The leaves are alternate and simple ; the 

 two sepals are often persistent. The flowers are in cymes, often 

 Tiniparous by exhaustion, rarely reduced to a single flower. Two 

 species are European ' Tlie others come from Central and Northern 

 Asia, and Northern Africa, some even from Mexico. - 



The flowers of the Loquat'' (Fr., Blbacier) are closely analogous to 

 those of the preceding genera, especially Crata>gu>i ; but the endocarp 

 is thin, as in Fyriis and Cydonia. Thus, in the prototype species, 

 commonly known as the Japan Medlar^ (Fr., Neflier dii Japon), the 

 calyx, corolla, and gyna3ceum are pentamerous.* The receptacle 

 is campanulate, and the ovaries fill up the whole of the bottom of 

 its cavity. Their upper surfaces form a concave cup, lined with 

 glandular tissue continued as far as the edges of the receptacle. These 

 edges bear five quincuncial sepals, five alternating caducous ungui- 

 culate imbricated petals, and a score of stamens, arranged as in the 

 Pear, with free filaments inflexed in the bud, and introrse two-celled 

 anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Each ovary contains two ovules 

 like those of the Pear,*^ with their micropyles capped by an obturator, 

 and is surmounted by a free style, dilated and stigmatiferous at the 

 tip. The fruit is pretty similar to an apple ; it is a nearly globular 

 drupe, with an eye on top surrounded by the persistent sepals, while 

 its thick flesh envelopes five cartilaginous stones, either all very thin, 

 or some fertile and containing one or two erect seeds, with a fleshy 

 exalbuminous embryo. 



But from this plant we cannot logically separate PJtotinia,^ which 

 possesses smaller drupes, while its ovary and fruit contain five, four, 

 or fewer cells, while all its other characters are absolutely identical. 

 Thus the genus Eriohotrya contains about twenty species^ from 



1 C. vulgaris Lindl. (Mespihis Cotoneaster * We frequently tiiuH-G-merousflowers in plants 

 L., Spec, 686) and tomentom Lindl. {M. io- cultivated in gardens in the South of France. 

 mentosa W., Spec, ii. 1012 (nee Lamk.) ; — M. ^ They have two coats. 



cHocarpa DC, -Fi.^F/-., Suppl., n. 3691). 'Lindl., Tran^. Linn. Soc, xiii. 103, t. 



2 H.B.K., iVoy. Ge».e(!.<?^ec.,vi. 169, t. 556.— 10.— DC, Prodr., ii. 631. — Spach, Suit, a 

 Koch, Ann. Mus. Lvrjd. Bat., i. 249.— Wight, Buffon, ii. 79. — Endl., Gen., n. 6350. — B. H., 

 /cow., t. 992.— 5o^. i2e^.,t. 1187, 1229,1305.— Ge?»., 627, n. m.— Myriomala Lindl., W! 

 Bot. Mag.,i. 3519.— Walp., Rep., ii. 56; v. JSey., n. 1956. 



661; Ann., i. 287; ii. 523. s Sieb. & Zucc, Fl. Jap., i. t. 97.— Koch, 



3 Eriobotrt/a LiNDL., Trans. Linn. Soc, -am. Ann. Mus. Luf/d. Bat., i. 250. — Miq., Ann. 

 102 (part.). — DC, Prodr., ii. 631. — Spach, Mus. Lnigd. Bat., iii. 41; Fl. Lid.-Bat., i. p. 1, 

 Suit, a Buffon, ii. 81.— Endl., Gen., n. 63 19. 387. — Benth., i^^. Eongk., 107.— Wight, Icon., 



* E. japonica Lindl., loc cit. — Mespilus t. 226, 228, 991 ; /«., t. 86.— ToKR. & Gr., i^/. 



japonica Thunbg., FL Jap., 206. — Crata-gus N. Amer., i. 472. — Seem., Bot. Her., 376. — 



Bibas Lour., Fl. Cochinch., ed. i. (1790), 319. Walp., Rep., ii. 56; Ann., iii. S58; iv. 670. 



