72 G. King — Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. No. 1, 



lobed, whorled. Floivers in dense cylindric spikes, less than 1 in. long 

 DC. Prodr. IV, 94. 



Singapore : King's Collector 333. 



Order LVII. CORNACE^E. 



Shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite or alternate, more or less coria- 

 ceous, usually petiolate, entire, rarely serrate or lobed, often unequal 

 at the base, exstipulate. Flowers usually small, regular, hermaphrodite 

 or unisexual, in axillary or terminal cymes, panicles or capitules. 

 Calyx-tube adherent to the ovary ; the limb truncate or 4-5-toothed 

 or lobed, valvafce or imbricate, persistent at the apex of the fruit. 

 Petals 4-5, sometimes as many as 20, or none, valvate or imbricate. 

 Stamens inserted with the petals and equal to them in number, rarely 

 2 or 3 times as many. Ovary inferior, 1-4-celled, crowned by a large 

 fleshy or rarely small disc. Style single, long or short ; stigma trun- 

 cate, capitate or pyramidal, sometimes lobed. Ovules solitary in each 

 cell (rarely 2), pendulous from the apex. Fruit baccate, (the pulp 

 often scanty), usually 1-celled, sometimes as many as 4-celled. Seed 

 oblong, pendulous, with copious fleshy albumen ; embryo axile minute 

 or often large with flat leafy cotyledons. — Distrib. Species about 90, 

 widely scattered but most abundant in the temperate regions of the 

 Northern Hemisphere. 



Flowers hermaphrodite : — 



Petals not larger than the lobes of the calyx ; anthers 



short, ovate and cordate ; style short ... ... 1. Mastixia. 



Petals mnch longer than the lobes of the calyx ; anthers 



long, linear; style elongate ... ... ... 2. Alangicm. 



Flowers unisexual ... ... ... ... 3. Nyssa. 



1. Mastixia, Blume. 



Trees, young parts more or less pubescent. Leaves alternate or 

 opposite, petioled, entire. Flowers hermaphrodite, often 2-bracteolate, 

 small, in terminal many-flowered cymose panicles ; bracts small or 

 lengthened, pedicels short or 0, jointed under the flower. Calyx-tube 

 campanulate, pubescent or silky ; limb 5-4-toothed. Petals 5-4, ovate, 

 leathery, valvate, pubescent, silky. Stamens 5-4 ; anthers cordate-ob- 

 long. Ovary 1-celled ; disc fleshy ; style cylindric, simple ; ovule 1, 

 pendulous from one side of the cell very near its summit. Drupe ellip- 

 soid or ovoid, crowned by the calyx- teeth or a scar ; putamen grooved 

 down one face ; endocarp protruded inwards down one side. Seed ellip- 

 soid ; albumen fleshy ; embryo small, radicle elongate, cotyledons thin, 

 elliptic. — Distrib. Species 18 ; S. India and Malaya. 



