432 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Cryptocarya 

 infectoria. 



Fig. 246. 

 Fruit (|). 



resembles that of Cinnamomum, becomes transformed into the one- 

 seeded fruit, the receptacle goes on increasing in height and 

 thickness, so as to envelope the whole fruit. On 

 top thereof (fig. 246) is seen a narrow opening : 

 this is surrounded by the scars of the perianth in 

 Cryptocarya ; but the perianth persists to the last 

 in Cycmodapbie, 1 of which some have made a sepa- 

 rate genus. Or again the accrescent receptacle is 

 closely applied and almost adnate to the pericarp, 

 as we find in Caryodaphne, 1 similarly made by 

 some a distinct genus, and reduced by us to a 

 section of the genus Cryptocarya. Thus constituted, 3 

 this genus consists of trees and shrubs, with their 

 leaves alternate, and their flowers in ramified axil- 

 lary and terminal racemes of cymes. They inhabit nearly all 

 tropical regions. Of the forty-three known species, 4 five or six 

 are American. 



Boldu b has altogether the flowers of Cryptocarya ; the same 

 receptacle and perianth, the same androceum, with nine of its 

 stamens fertile and two-celled, the same gynaxieum inserted in 

 the bottom of the receptacular sac. But the last, instead of 

 becoming thickened, as in Cryptocarya, remains thin, dry, and 

 fragile. It forms a completely closed sac around the fruit, and is 

 covered by the scars of the perianth ; it breaks, however, at the 

 least touch, and it is often the fruit itself that appears by its 

 growth to burst it and make it fall at a variable period. Only 

 two species of Boldu are known, 6 trees from Chili, with their 

 leaves opposite, or nearly so, and with axillary inflorescences like 

 those of Cryptocarya. 



1 Bl., Mus. Luyd.-Bat., i. 333. — MsiSSN., 

 Prod,:, 76. 



2 Bl., ex Nees, Syst., 925. — Endl., Gen., 

 n. 2037.— Meissn., Prod,:, 77. 



3 Cryptocarya : 



!1. Eucryptocarya. 

 2. Cyanodaphie. 

 3. Caryodaphne. 



4 Wall., PL As. Rar., ii. 61, 69.— Zoll., 

 Yerz., 113.— E. Met., in PL Geogr., 77, 99, 

 176.— Bl., Bijdr., 556, 557; Mus. Luyd.-Bat., 

 i. 333, 334; Rumphia, i. t. 46 (Dehaasia). — 

 Miq., FL Ind.-Bat., i. 920, 925, 926.— Thw., 

 Enum. Pi. ZeyL, 254. — A. Bkaux., in Verh. 



des Ver. z. B<f. d. Gartenb. in Preuss, xxi. 

 11 {Caryodaphne). — Hook., Journ., iv. 418. 

 — MEISSN., in Marl. FL Bras., Laurac, 163, 

 t. 56. — Bentq. & F. Muell., FL Austr., v. 

 _ I. — Wali\, Ann., i. 576 (Oreodaphne). 



s Feuill., Hist., 11, t. 6.— Nees, Syst., 122, 

 177.— Kndl., Gen., n. 2039. — Meissn., Prodr., 

 67, 506.— Bellota C. Gat, FL ChiL, v. 298, t. 59. 



6 The best known is the Boldu, Bellota or 

 llmo of the Chilians, B. chilanum Nees (Syst., 

 178, 672; — Boldu arbor olivifera Feuill.; — 

 Boldus chilensis Moli.w, ChiL, 158; — Launu 

 Belloto Miers ; — Adenostemum nitidv.m Bebt. 

 (nee Pees.). — Bellota 31iersii C. Gat). 



