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II. On the Oiulum of Santalum album. By William Griffith, Esq., 

 Assistant Surgeon in the Madras 3Iedical Service. Communicated hi/ 

 Richard HorsmaiN Solly, Esc., F.R.S. êf L.S. 



Read April 5th, 1836. 



X HE following- observations were made at the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, in 

 the early part of July, 1835. 



The ovarium as well as the fruit of this genus corresponds with the struc- 

 ture laid down by Mr. Brown as one of the principal distinguishing marks of 

 Santalaceœ, of which order I presume this genus is the type. 



I allude to the central free placenta, bearing towards its apex a definite 

 number of pendulous ovula. Yet Roxburgh has mistaken the structure en- 

 tirely, and has evidently described the placenta together with the ovula, which 

 he did not see, for the ovulurn. This author, in his Flora Indica, vol. i. p. 443, 

 describes the ovulurn as " Germ, semi-superum, one-celled, containing one 

 conical seed attached to the bottom of the cell." This mistake is perpetuated 

 in the Botanical Magazine, new series, t. 3235, in which Roxburgh's descrip- 

 tion is quoted, and said to be faithful. Tlie error of Jussieu with regard to 

 the ovulurn of Santalaceœ, first pointed out by Mr. Brown in his Prodromus 

 Flora? N^orce HollandJœ, and subsequently in the Appendix to Captain Tuckey's 

 Expedition to Congo, p. 453, might have partly originated from an examina- 

 tion of Santalum, in wiiich the ovula from their situation and direction may 

 very easily be overlooked. 



The placenta in this species is conical, rather obtuse in the young flowers, 

 but prolonged considerably in those that are matured. Its apex corresponds 

 at this period to the termination of the canal, occupying the centre of tlie 

 style, but not opening between the stigmata in the fully developed flowers. 

 The ovula are attached near the base, and not towards the apex, as in the 

 other genera of this ftimily. Mr. Brown's statement in Captain Flinders's 



