366 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



283. Sweetia Spreng. 1 — Receptacle obconical minute. Calyx sub- 

 campanulate ; lobes or teeth 5, subequal, valvate or slightly imbri- 

 cate. Corolla subregular; petals erect-spreading, long-tapering at 

 base, imbricate in aestivation ; uppermost (vexillary) often 2 exterior, 

 occasionally a little broader than rest. Stamens 10, slightly perigy- 

 nous, longer than petals ; filaments free inflexed in bud ; anthers 

 uniform. Orermen stipitate in bottom of receptacle ; ovules few 

 descending; style slender ; apex minute or truncate. Legume ellip- 

 soid oval lanceolate or broadly linear, piano-compressed, coriaceous 

 or submembranous, sometimes obscurely subulate at apex, indehiscent. 

 Seeds 1 or few, compressed ; embryo exalbuminous ; cotyledons folia- 

 ceous or rather thick; radicle short straight, or longer incurved. — Trees; 

 leaves pari- or imparipinnate ; leaflets pauci- or cc-jugate; stipules 

 small or minute ; flowers 3 in compound racemes at ends of branches ; 

 pedicels short ; bracts and bractlets narrow, very caducous 4 {Tropical 

 South America?). 



284. Myrocarpus Allem. 6 — Receptacle obconical turbinate, dis- 

 ciferous within. Calyx membranous ; teeth 4, 5, short subequal or 

 slightly unequal ; or else superior connate. Petals 5, unguiculate 

 linear, long-narrowed at base subequal, variably imbricated. 7 Sta- 

 mens 10, inserted perigynously with petals, exserted filaments free; 

 anthers small uniform versatile. Germen central stipitate ; ovules 

 few reniform ; style short, straight or incurved ; apex minute stig- 

 matiferous. Legume elongated much compressed, attenuated subu- 

 late at sutures, indehiscent ; pericarp somewhat turgid over seeds 

 stuffed, with resiniferous cavities. Seeds 1 or few, elongated sub- 

 fusiform descending ; 8 embryo long cylindrical exalbuminous ; radicle 

 superior short straight. — Trees ; leaves imparipinnate, leaflets alter- 

 nate or opposite, with transparent dots, stipules small, flowers 

 racemose ; racemes slender, axillary or at ends of defoliated branches ; 



1 Si/st., ii. 171 (nee DC.).— B. H., Gen., 559, 

 n. 288. — Acosmium Schott, in Spreng. Si/st , 

 Cur. Post., 406. — Endl., Gen., n. 6753. — Ltp'. 

 tolobium Vog., in Linnaa, xi.388. — Exdl., Gen., 

 n. 6751. — Thalesia Maet., mss. (ex Exdl.). 



2 But not always ; hence this genus is as it 

 were, through Barklya, intermediate between 

 Sophorece and Ccesalpiniece. 



6 Yellowish, sometimes small and recalls 

 those of many Mimosece and of Leptolo- 

 b i tan. 



4 The genus is divided into 3 sections, viz. :— 



1. Acosmiutn : calyx lobes shorter than tube ; 

 radicle incurved. — 2. Lepiolobium : calyx longer, 

 radicle sbort straight. — 3. Mesitis (Vog.) : C&lyx 

 of Lepiolobium ; radicle of Acosmium. 



5 Species about 10. Bentii., in Journ. Linn. 

 Soc, viii. 261.— Walp., Rep., i. 808 ; v. 550; 

 Ann., ii. 440 (Lepiolobium). 



6 Allem., Diss. (1847, 48), icon. — B. H., 

 Gen., 559, n. 287. 



7 Small, white. 



8 Closely appressed to pericarp, and not easily 

 separable from it, though not altogether adherent. 



