LAURACE/E. 



shaped, with an obconical equal deciduous* tube. Fertile sta- 

 mens 9, in 3 rows, the 3 inner furnished with a distinct stalked 

 gland on each side. Anthers oblong, glandular at the point, 

 2-celled, the 6 outer looking inwards, the 3 inner outwards. 

 Sterile stamens 3, stalked, with a long sharp head, belonging to 

 the inner whorl. Stigma discoidal ; ovary immersed in the tube 

 of the calyx. Caryopsis covered by the lobeless closed tube 

 of the calyx, and united to it. Leaf buds with a few coriaceous 

 keeled scales. Leaves 3-nerved, or 3-plenerved. 



687. C. densiflora JBlume in Nees Laurin. 228. Kiteja or 

 Kitedja Javanese. Woods from 1400 to 1800 feet above the 

 sea on the West of Java. 



A tree 60-80 feet high. Young branches round, smooth, very dark 

 green ; at first covered with a short ochre-coloured downiness. Leaves 

 3-nerved or triple-nerved, elliptical-oblong, bluntly cuspidate, smooth, 

 glaucous beneath. Panicles corymbose, axillary, dense. Fruit globose, 

 furrowed on the summit. Bark brownish, tonic, containing a great 

 quantity of bitter somewhat balsamic extractive matter. Leaves grate- 

 fully aromatic ; they are used in infusion, like tea, against spasms of 

 the bowels, and the convulsive affections of pregnant women. Blume. 



MESPILODAPHNE. 



Dioecious ? Calyx 6-cleft ; tube obconical, segments equal, 

 permanent. Fertile stamens 9, in 3 rows, the 3 inner with 

 2 sessile globose glands at the base. Anthers 4-celled ; the 6 

 outer ovate and looking inwards, the 3 inner narrower and 

 looking outwards. Sterile stamens in 1 species forming a fourth 

 row, with a distinct stalk and a cordate-lanceolate head. Stigma 

 depressed, capitate. Fruit succulent, enclosed from the first in 

 the thick corky fleshy tube of the calyx, and covered over by 

 its converging segments ; eventually exposed at the point by 

 the falling or rubbing off of the segments. Flowers panicled. 



688. M. pretiosa Nees Laurin. 237. Laurus Quixos Lam. enc. 

 iii. 455. Woods near Para ; Maypure. Pao or Casca pretiosa 

 Portuguese. 



A tree. Branches smooth, when young angular ; their bark when 

 old split lengthwise and cracked across till it looks as if tessellated. 

 Leaves from 5-7 inches long, 1^-2 inches broad, oblong, tapering into 

 an obtuse point, acute at the base, smooth, papery, shining, with pin- 

 nated veins. Flowers and flower-stalks all smooth. Ripe fruit small, 

 marked at the vertex by a circular scar denoting the place from which 

 the limb of the calyx fell ; very much like a small fig. Inner bark 

 and the rind of the calyx of a most sweet odour and agreeable taste, 

 resembling Cinnamon mixed with Orange-flowers, or oil of Bergamot. 



* Nees v. Esenbeck states the character thus " tubo obconico zequali deciduo j" but I 

 cannot reconcile it with the tube of the ealyx eventually enclosing the fruit. 



334 



