648 CLXXXV. MONIMIACE2E. 



gemmate, or in racemes cymes or panicles, bracteate ; bracteoles caducous. RECEP- 

 TACULAR CUPULE discoid or urceolate, rarely capsular, usually accrescent. SEPALS 

 4, decussate, or 5-8-oo , many-seriate, imbricate in aestivation. STAMENS usually 

 indefinite, rarely 8 (Ephippiandra] or 5 (jEgotoxicum), lining the wall of the cupule 

 in the $ flowers, occupying the throat only in the $ , free, all fertile or some re- 

 duced to staminodes ; filaments linear and filiform, or dilated into a petaloid elon- 

 gated membrane, or very short and nearly 0, naked or 2-appendiculate near the base 

 or towards the centre ; anthers introrse or extrorse, usually adnate to and shorter 

 than the connective, cells opposite, dehiscing either by separate or confluent slits, or 

 transversely by 2 ascending valvules ; staminodes situated within the fertile stamens, 

 and sometimes bearing half an anther. CARPELS numerous, 1-celled, free, sessile on 

 the surface of the receptacular cupule, rarely sunk in its thickened walls (Ambora) ; 

 ovule anatropous, sometimes pendulous, and then style terminal ; sometimes erect, and 

 then style lateral or basilar. DRUPES or NUTS, superficial or sunk in the receptacular 

 cupule : drupes dry, or pulpy and odoriferous, with a pendulous or erect seed ; nuts 

 with an erect seed, sometimes (Dorypliord) terminated by a plumose style. SEED 

 free in the drupes, adnate to the pericarp in the nuts ; albumen copious, fleshy, 

 sometimes oily. EMBRYO straight, axile in the pendulous seeds, basilar and minute 

 in the erect ; cotyledons divaricate. 



[The following disposition of the genera of Monimiacecc is that of A. De Candolle 

 in the * Prodromus ' : 



TRIBE I. SIPARUNEJ:. Perianth fig-like, indehiscent. Ovule erect. Siparuna, Palmeria. 



TKIBE II. TAMBOURISSEJE. Perianth fig-like, indehiscent. Ovule pendulous. Tam- 

 bourissa. 



TRIBE III. MONIMIEJE. Perianth fig-like or sub-globose, at length dehiscent. Ovule 

 pendulous. Monimia, EpJiippiandra, Mathcea, Kibara, &c. 



TRIBE IV. HEDYCARYEJ:. Perianth spreading. Fruit drupaceous. Ovule pendulous. 

 Hortonii, Hcdycarya, Peumm (*Boldoa). 



TRIBE V. ATHEROSPERMEJE. Perianth spreading. Fruit an achene. Ovule erect. 

 Laurelia, DorypJiora. 



DOUBTFUL GENUS. ^Egoioxicon. 1 (JExioxicon.} ED.] 



The affinities of Moniniiacca have given rise to very different opinions. A. L. de Jussieu, who, when 

 his ' Genera Plantarum ' was published, knew only Ambora, placed it near Ficus, in Urticea ; when, later, 

 he knew Monimia, Citrosma, Atherosperma, &c., he united them with Ambora into the family of Monimiete, 

 which he divided into two tribes, according to the drupaceous or nut-like character of the fruit, and which 

 he still placed near Urticete. 



He had also noticed the affinity of Monimieee with Calycanthece, without however overlooking the 

 connection of the latter with Jtosacete (see page 192). R. Brown separated Monimie<e from AtJiero- 

 spermeee ; he placed the former near Urticea*, as Jussieti had done, and brought Atherospermea near 

 Laurineee on account of their aromatic properties, and especially the structure of their anthers. Endlicher, 

 like Jussieu, placed Atherospermea and Monimiete together, and like R. Brown he placed them before 

 Laurineee. Tulasne, the author of a learned monograph of Monimiaceee, thinks that they are nearest 



1 This remarkable genus, appended to Monimiaccte by by others, differs wholly from the first named in the gemi- 

 some authors, to Euphorbiacea by others, and to llicinece natc ovules, double perianth, and lopidote scales. ED. 



