404 NATURAL HISTORY OF P LASTS. 



almost entirely at the level of the fascicles of the latter, and is seen, 

 in the form of salient lobes, only in the intervals. Each fascicle is 

 composed of from four to six stamens which are united only in the 

 lower part of their filaments and free in their autheriferous part, 

 slender, very elongate, spirally twisted in the bud. One or two 

 species of Moronobea, have been described, from Guyana and northern 

 Brazil ; they have opposite leaves and large terminal and solitary 

 flowers. 1 Mcmtrouzeria* is scarcely distinct from Moronobea and 

 Symphonea. It has the spherical bud of the latter, the fundamen- 

 tally distinct staminal fascicles of the former, with free anthers and 

 independent glands, generally alternate 3 with the staminal bundles. 

 The ovules are numerous and the organs of vegetation nearly those 

 of Moronobea. Four or five New Caledonian species 4 are already 

 known. Pentadesma butyracea, 5 one of the Butter-trees of tropical 

 western Africa, has' nearly all the characters of Moronobea, 6 sepals 

 more unequal 7 and stamens more numerous in each of the five 

 fascicles, with anthers that do not descend so low in each fascicle. 

 The disk is the same, and the fleshy fruit, rich in fatty matter, 

 encloses only a single seed in each cell. It is a fine tree with oppo- 

 site coriaceous penninerved leaves and large solitary terminal flowers. 

 It is nearly allied to Platonia* a large tree of tropical eastern 

 America, having the bud of Moronobea, a disk with lobes alternating 

 with the staminal fascicles, but in each of the latter a very large 

 number of slender, straight filaments, which soon separate from each 

 other and bear each a linear and extrorse anther 9 proceeding from 

 the middle of its length. Two 10 species of Platonia are described, 



1 White. rieally distinct. 



= Panch. ex Pi. et Tri. Jan. Se. Nat. sér. 4, 7 From -which the sepals are said to pass im- 



xiv. 292.— B. H. Gen. 173, n. 12. perceptibly to petals. 



3 In M. cauliflora the disk, little prominent, 8 Hart. Nov. Gen. et Sp. iii. 108, t. 288, f. 2, 

 is quite entire beneath the stamens, and does not t. 289. — Endl. Gen. n. 5456. — Pl. et Tri. Ann. 

 project into the intervals of the filaments. Se. -AVrf. sér. 4, xiv. 297. — B. H. Gen. 174, n. 14. 



4 Panch. Séô. Not. Bois N.-Caled. 220.— H. — H. Bx. Payer Fam. Nat. 272. 



Bn. Adansonia, xi. 366. 9 The pollen is " spherical with four rather 



6 Sab, Trans, llort. Soc. v. 457. — Don, Gen. short folds, and four transverse elliptical urn- 



Syst. i. 619. — Svach, Suit, à Buffon, v. 320. — bilies.'' (II. Moiil. Ann. Sc. Nat. sér. 2, iii. 



Endl. Gen. n. 5445.— Pl. et Tri. Ann. Se. Nat. 329.) 



sér. 4, xiv. 300. — B. H. Gen. 174, n. 15. — Oliv. 10 Arrdd. BUeors. 32 [Bacury), — Abbev. 



Tl. Trop. Afr. i. 164. Miss. Capue. 222 (Pacoury). 

 From which it cannot be retained as gene- 



