DR. B. SEEMANN ON THE CRESCENTIACE.E. 3 



CRESCENTIACE^. 



Crescentiacece, 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. Obdinis emend. — Arbores \e\frutices stantes vel interdum scandentes, sEepe glabrae, 7'amis plus 

 minusve angulatis. Folia alterna, fasciculata, opposita v. verticillata, petiolata, nunc simplicia, 

 saepissime integeri-ima, nunc composita (trifoliolata vel imparipinnata). Stipules nullae, vel interdum 

 e gemmis axillaribus foliis primariis spurise. 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, corollag tubo inserta, ejusdem laciniis alterna, exserta 

 vel inclusa. Filamenta simplicia. AnthercB 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-convesae. 



Obs. This definition excludes PeriUema, DeCand. Prod. ix. p. 242 {Boiitonia, De 

 Cand.), a Madagascar genus having a bilocular ovary, and two o-\T.iles in each cell. Its 

 fruit is unknown. It will therefore be much better placed among the genuine Blg- 

 noniacece, — its definite number of ovules showing it to possess some affinity with 

 Flatycarpum, H. et B., and Senriquezia, Spruce (Linn. Trans, xxii. p. 296). 



Geographical Distribution. 

 The Crescentiaeece are inhabitants of the tropical and subtropical regions of both 

 hemispheres, ranging from 30° S. to 30° X. latitude. They occiu' 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 

 Cnjete, 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. tripimiata, Seem.) in Cochin- 

 china. No representative of the order has hitherto been met with either in Eui'oj)e, 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 BignoniacecB and allied orders. Eour species are extensively cultivated 

 in the tropics, viz. Crescentia Gujete, 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 Kigelia pinnata, DeCand. Probably the great geographical range 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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