66 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 
anthers, few in number,' also form a ring upon the common support. 
The carpels are uni- or rarely bi-ovulate,’ and their indehiscent fruit 
is a woody, suberous achene longitudinally carinated upon the back. 
Two species of //erttiera’ are admitted, inhabiting the warm regions 
of Asia and Australia, and most of the Oriental islands off the coast 
of tropical Africa. 
Tetradia Horsfieldii, a tree but little known, a native of Java, has 
simple leaves, and polygamous flowers very similar to those of /Zer7- 
liera. The androceum is formed of a variable’ number of stamens 
circularly united on the top of a central column, and the gynæceum 
is said to be formed of four multiovulate carpels; but the perianth 
consists of three or four leaves, free or nearly so, and valvate. 
The 
flowers are axillary subsessile, or united in short racemes.’ 
IJ. HELICTERES SERIES. 
Helicteres® (figs. 95, 96) has hermaphrodite flowers. On the convex 
receptacle is seen first a gamosepalous calyx, with five more or less 

1 There are often only five or six, but some- 
times a larger number; whatever may be the 
number, the cells are parallel, as in the anthers 
of Cola, and the lines of dehiscence vertical. 
2 The ovules are ascendant with micropyle 
turned downwards and outwards, 
3 Ham. in Sym. Emb. Ava., t. 28.— WIGHT 
et ARN., Prodr., i. 63.—Watp., Rep., v. 106; 
Ann., iv. 821; vii. 421. 
4 It is only with hesitation that we can place 
here a plant of Angola, which is quite unknown 
to us and which the authors of The Flora of 
Tropical Africa (i. 219): Octolobus spectabilis, 
We Lw., Sert. Angol., 17, t. 6 (ex Trans. Linn. 
Soc., xxvii.), have not been able to see, It 
appears allied at the same time to Sterculiacee 
and to Anonaceæ, which however, it does not 
resemble in its seed, Its characteristics are, 
according to BENTHAM & J. Hooker, who 
(Gen. 982, n. 2 a) place it near Tarrielia :— 
“Flores 1-sexuales. Calycis campanulati tubus 
subeylindraceus; lobi 8, coriacei, marginibus 
late membranaceis induplicatis corrugatis. Pe- 
tula O0. Staminum columna brevis cylindrica, 
stipiti elongato conico tomentoso imposita ; an- 
thers perplurimæ, in discum orbicularem ver- 
tice depressum connate. Ovarii carpella perplu- 
rima, ®-seriata, in capitulum globosum gyno- 
phoro brevi impositum conferta, verticillo stami- 
nodiorum cincta, libera, anguste ovoidea, dense 
tomentosa, 1-locularia; stylus 0, stigmate sessili 
ovula ©, 2-seriata, Carpella matura 
distincta, stipitata, turgide obovoidea 
gibba, rostro recurvo terminata, sub-2-sperma. 
Semina subglobosa, sessilia; hilo orbiculato; 
testa membranacea ; albumine 0. Embryo sub- 
globosus, cotyledonibns  crassissimis, radicula 
brevissima, plumula pilosa, — Arbor patentim 
comosa, ramulis robustis. Folia alterna, longe 
petiolata ; petiolo apice incrassato ; obovato-lan- 
ceolata, obtuse acuminata, coriacea, glaberrima. 
Stipulæ geminæ laterales erectæ acutissime. 
Flores magni, in ramulis sessiles, solitarii fulvo- 
villosi.” 
5R. Br., in Benn. Pl. Jav. Rar., 233.— 
B. H., Gen., 219, n. 5.—Watp., Rep., v. 103. 
5 The androceum has been described since 
R. BROWN, as formed of four stamens. Upon 
‘two flowers, which we have examined, we have 
certainly seen fourteen or sixteen anther-cells, 
linear and vertical. 
7 «Gen. Sterculie et Cole affin., fruct. adhue 
ignot. incert.” (B. H., loc. cit.) 
3, Gen, mn. 1025.—J., (Gen, 278:— 
GÆRTN., Fruct., i. 308, t. 64.—Lamx., Dict., 
iii. 86; Suppl, iii. 19; ZZ., t. 735.—DC., 
Prodr., i, 475.—Scnorr et Enpt., Melet., 31. 
—ÆNDz, Gen. n. 5316.—B, H., Gen., 220, 
D. 10.—H. By., in Payer Fam. Nat., 284 
(incl. : Alicteres NECK., Isora SCHOTT, Metho- 
rium Scuorr, Orthothecium Scuorr, Oudeman- 
sia M1Q.).—Hoox. & Masr., F7. of B. Ind., 365. 
2-lobo ; 
8-12, 
