50 FLORA OP TASMANIA. [Biittneriacea. 
Bot. Mag. i. 275. P. Lampenii, Lindl. in Bot. Beg. xxiv. 22. Sida discolor, Hook. Journ. Bot. i. 250. 
{Gunn> 452.) 
Hab. Common in the southern parts of the Island, in a rich soil, growing in ravines, Fraser, etc. — 
(PI. March, Oct.) (v. v.) Native name, - Currajong." (Cultivated in England.) 
A tree or large shrub 10-12 feet high, strictly dioecious, and both sexes flowering (according to Mr. Gunn) at two 
seasons. — Bark full of strong fibres, used as cordage. Stems, leaves, and inflorescence more or less pubescent or to- 
mentose. Leaves on short petioles, 2-5 inches long, narrow oblong or oblong-lanceolate, coarsely crenate, rigid in con- 
sistence when diy, rugose above, with minute impressed veins, white and woolly below. Male flowers on nearly erect 
racemes, white, drooping, on short pedicels. Calyx broadly campanulate, five-lobed. Corolla very variable in size, 
*~ l inch diameter; lobes obovate-oblong, stellate-pubescent. Pistil columnar; styles united. Female flowers 
smaller, on shorter racemes, with longer tubular calyces, and smaller densely woolly corollas. Ovaries two, com- 
bined, one-ovuled. Styles two, more or less combined below, very pilose above ; stigmata very short, papillose on 
the inner surface, blunt. Fruit membranous, pubescent, included in the calyx, two-celled, one cell with an imper- 
fect seed, the other with a perfect one, similar to that of P. pulcliellus.— This species differs very much from P. pul- 
chellus hi the two-ceded fruit, whose carpels are attached by broad faces, and do not fall away from a central column ; 
the fruit is also enclosed in the tubular calyx, and the corolla is also persistent in fruit. 
Nat. Ord. XVI. BUTTNERIACEtE. 
Nearly one hundred species of this Natural Family occur in Australia, of which most are confined to 
the south-western coasts. There are however a considerable number of eastern extratropical species, and 
some tropical ones. Amongst the latter are several plants that are found in many distant parts of the 
torrid zone, as Waltheria Indica and Melochia corcAorifolia. The typical Australian genera have very 
narrow geographical limits, and the rarity of the Order in Tasmania is remarkable. 
Gen. I. LASIOPETALUM, 8m. 
Calyx persistens, 5-partitus, subpetaloideus. Petala 5, minima. Stamina 5, petalis opposita ; fila- 
ment is liberis; ant/ieris elongatis, extrorsis, apice poro v. rima brevi dehiscentibus. Ovarium 1-4-loculare, 
ovulis 1-2 ascendentibus. Stylus subulatus ; stigmate simplici v. trifido. Capsula calyce inclusa, locu- 
licide 2-4-valvis. Semina solitaria, testa puberuia, strophiolo digitato v. lobato ; albumen camosum ; 
embryo orthotropus. — Frutices stellatim tom.entosi, exstipulati ; inflorescentia cymosa, qppositifolia, bracteis 
' '•■■■•-. 
Shrubs, always densely covered with woolly stellate pubescence ; all natives of Austraba, south of the Tropics ; 
not very numerous in species. — Flowers in dense cymes, each with a bract beneath the calyx. Calyx five-lobed, 
large, generally petaloid between the lobes. Petals minute, or none. Stamens five, opposite the petals, with short, 
free filaments, inserted in front of long, narrow anthers, that burst by short slits or pores at the apex. Ovary one- 
to four-celled, with one style, and a simple or lobed stigma ; ovules ascending, one or more in each cell. Fruit 
enclosed in the calyx, of two to four united carpels, that split down the dorsum. Seed solitary, erect, with a hairy 
testa. (Name from Xao-ios , icool, and Trerdkov ; from the woolly calyx.) 
1. Lasiopetalum. discolor (Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag. i. 276) ; foliis breve petiolatis deltoideo-cor- 
datis obtusis supra pubescentibus subtus albo-tomentosis, cymis densifloris pedunculatis, bracteis 3-partitis 
flore longioribus dense villosis, calycibus albo-tomentosis profunde 5-partitis lobis ovato-lanceolatis, ovario 
dense villoso, stylo gracili glaberrimo. — Hook. Journ. Bot. ii. 414. {Gunn, 551.) 
Hab. Bass' Straits, Prime Seal Island, Backhouse, Gunn. (PI. Sept.) 
