DR. B. SEEMANN ON THE CRESCENTIACE^. 3 
CRESCENTIACE.E. 
Crescentiacea, Gardn. in Hook. Journ. ii. p. 423 (1840); Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 673 (1846); 
Seem, in Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 268 (1853), Bot. Herald, p. 181 (1854). Bignoniacearum et 
Gesneracearum tribus auct. 
Char. Ordinis emend. — Arbores \e\frutices stantes vel interdum scandentes, saepe glabra?, ra?nis plus 
minusve angulatis. Folia alterna, fasciculata, opposita v. verticil lata, petiolata, nunc simplicia, 
saepissime integerrima, nunc composita (trifoliolata vel imparipinnata). Stipulee nulke, vel interdum 
e gemmis axillaribus foliis primariis spuriae. Flores hermaphroditi, subregulares vel irregulares, 
terminales vel axillares, vel saepissime ex trunco aut basi ramorum orti, solitarii, racemosi vel 
paniculati. Calyx liber, gamophyllus, persistens vel deciduus, 5-merus, spathaceus vel bipartitus. 
Corolla hypogyna, gamopetala, subcampanulata, infundibuliformis vel hypocraterimorpha, limbo 5- 
lobo, subaequali vel subbilabiato, lobis per aestivationem duplicato-plicatis vel subplicato-imbricatis. 
Stamina 4, didynama, cum rudimento quinti, corollae tubo inserta, ejusdem laciniis alterna, exserta 
vel inclusa. Filamenta simplicia. Anthercs biloculares (abortu uniloculares), loculis discretis. 
Pollen sphaericum. Discus hypogynus glandulosus, obsolete lobatus, ovarii basin cingens. Ovarium 
liberum, 1-loculare ; ovula anatropa, indefinita. Stylus terminalis, simplex. Stigma bilobum vel 
bilamellatum. Fructus baccatus, 1-locularis, vel spurie 2- 4- pluri-locularis. Semina plurima, aptera, 
transversa. Albumen nullum. Embryo rectus vel curvatus. Radicula umbilico proxima, brevis, 
crassa. Cotyledones plano-convexae. 
Obs. This definition excludes Periblema, DeCand. Prod. ix. p. 242 {Bontonia, De 
Cand.), a Madagascar genus having a bilocular ovary, and two ovules in each cell. Its 
fruit is unknown. It will therefore be much better placed among the genuine Big- 
noniacece, — its definite number of ovules showing it to possess some affinity witli 
JPlatycarpnm, H. et B., and Henrique zia, Spruce (Linn. Trans, xxii. p. 296). 
Geographical Distribution. 
The Crescentiacea? are inhabitants of the tropical and subtropical regions of both 
hemispheres, ranging from 30° S. to 30° N. latitude. They occur in the greatest 
number in Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and other islands of Eastern Africa. 
In America they are represented by 10 species, the most northern of which ( Crescentia 
, Linn.) is found in Key West, Elorida. In Asia only two species have as 
yet been discovered, one of them (Colea Mauritiana, Boj.) having been collected in 
Timor, and also in Mauritius and Madagascar, the other ( C tripinnata, Seem.) in Cochin- 
china. No representative of the order has hitherto been met with either in Europe, or 
the continent of Australia. Numerically we may state that Africa produces 16, America 
10, and Asia 2 members of this group of plants. Considerable additions may, however, 
still be expected from the islands of Eastern Africa, and necessitate a careful revision 
of the genuine Bignoniacea? and allied orders. Four species are extensively cultivated 
in the tropics, viz. Crescentia Cujete, Linn, and C. alata, H. B. K. (both for the sake of 
their hard-shelled fruit), Colea Telfairice, Boj. (on account of its edible, agreeable-flavoured 
fruit), and Kig elia pinnata , DeCand. Probably the great geographical ran^e which Cres- 
centia Cujete, Linn, and Kigelia pinnata, DeCand. enjoy (the former in America the 
latter in Africa), is in a great measure owing to their having accompanied man in his 
wanderings, been planted where new homes were established, and become gradually 
naturalized, and to all appearance wild, in the localities where we now meet with them. 
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