STERCUL1ACE/E. 



panicled. Calyx deeply divided; the teeth spreading, lanceolate, 

 nearly smooth on the outside, slightly velvety within. Anthers 15. 

 Carpels oblong, many-seeded. W. and A. Fruit employed in gonor- 

 rhoea in Java. Leaves repellent and aperient. A decoction of the 

 fruit mucilaginous and astringent. Ainslie. 



SOUTHWELLIA. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-7- cleft; the segments cohering at the 

 point. $ stamen-tube cylindrical, enclosed in the calyx, with 

 the stamens free at the point, and bearing irregularly a heap of sta- 

 mens. ? stamen-tube like the male, with 15-30 sessile an- 

 thers arranged in a simple sinuated row. Ovaries united. Styles 

 adhering, recurved ; stigmas somewhat peltate, cohering, radiating. 

 Follicles sessile, few-seeded. Tropical trees of the old world ; 

 leaves usually simple. Flowers usually with a yellowish cast. 



271. S. Tragacantha Schott. meletem. 62. Sterculia Traga- 

 cantha Lindl. in Bot. Ret/, t. 1353. Sierra Leone. 



Branchlets downy, ferruginous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, oblong, 

 cuspidate, generally rounded at each end, quite entire except at the 

 apex which is sometimes bifid or trifid, smooth upon the upper surface, 

 downy on the under and on the petiole; down stellate. Panicles 

 densely downy, contracted, axillary, either shorter or longer than the 

 leaves. Calyx campanulate, downy, brownish purple, 5-cleft, the seg- 

 ments shining at the apex. Known at Sierra Leone as the Tragacanth 

 tree, a gum resembling Gum Tragacanth being copiously exuded by it 

 when wounded. 



WALTHERIA. 



Calyx 5-cleft, persistent, with a 3-leaved lateral deciduous 

 involucel. Petals 5, equal, attached by their claws to the sta- 

 minal column. Filaments united into a nearly entire or 5-cleft 

 tube. Ovarium oblique, 1-celled (by the obliteration of 4 cells) : 

 ovules 2, superposed. Style single, slightly lateral. Stigma 

 penicillate. Capsule consisting of 1 coccus, nearly globose, 

 membranaceous, 1 -seeded, 2-valved. Embryo in the axis of a 

 fleshy albumen. Herbaceous plants, shrubs, or little trees, with 

 stellate pubescence. Leaves entire, serrated. Flowers yellow, 

 axillary and terminal, capitately or spicately conglomerated, 

 with many interposed bracteoles. W. and A. 



272. W. Douradinha Aug. de St. Hil. pi. us. No. 36./. bras. 

 i. 153. Rocky banks of the Uruguay in Brazil. 



Stems suffruticose, ascending. Leaves ovate or roundish ovate, 

 obtuse, cordate, the lower hairy, the upper downy and glaucous. 

 Heads of flowers terminal, or a few of them axillary. Calyx downy. 

 Petals bearded above the claw. Stamen-tube nearly entire. Mucila- 

 ginous. Brazilians use it in complaints of the chest, and they also be- 

 lieve it serviceable in venereal complaints. 



136 



