428 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



DiSTRiB. India, Ceylon, Burma, Malay Archipelago, China, Australia, 

 Pacific Islands. 



A plant of sea-coasts and tidal creeks. HuUett says the Malay name is " Betak- 

 heta'k,'" and that the milky juice is poisonous. Linnaeus's name, C. Manghas, ought 

 to take precedence of Gaertner's, but it was applied to two species, the former of 

 which belonged to a different genus, so we follow the Fl. Br. Ind. and other authorities 

 in retaining Gaertner's name. 



9. OCHBOSIA, JUSS. 



Trees. Leaves whorled, rarely opposite or scattered; nerves very 

 numerous, parallel, spreading. Cymes pedunculate at the ends of the 

 branches, alternate with the uppermost leaves, finally lateral. Calyx 

 5-lobed, eglandular. Corolla salver-shaped ; tube cylindric, not or 

 very sUghtly dilated opposite the stamens, throat naked ; lobes 5, 

 twisted, overlapping to the right. Stamens included in the tube 

 of the coroUa, at or above the middle ; anthers lanceolate, rounded 

 at the base. Disk very smaU, annulate, or none. Carpels 2, distinct 

 or connate at the base ; style filiform ; stigma oblong, 2-fid ; ovules in 

 each carpel 2 to 6, biseriate, on either side of a prominent placenta. 

 Fruit of 2 spreading drupes, sometimes connate at the base ; epicarp 

 thinly fleshy ; endocarp thick, hard, often dorsally compressed and more 

 or less grooved ventrally. Seeds solitary or 2 separated by the placenta, 

 flattened ; testa membranous ; albumen absent or fleshy ; cotyledons 

 large, flat, fohaceous ; radicle short, superior. — Distrib. x\bout 12 

 species, found from the Mascarene Islands eastwards through the 

 Malay Archipelago to Australia and the Pacific. 



OcHEOSiA BORBONicA, Gmel. Syst. Veg. I. 439 (1796). A small 

 evergeen glabrous tree, reaching 20 feet in height ; branches very stout, 

 fleshy ; branchlets fleshy, glaucous green, marked with the prominent 

 scars of fallen leaves. Leaves fleshy when green, membranous when 

 dry, in whorls of 3 to 4 or irregularly placed ; obovate, obtuse and very 

 briefly apiculate at apex, cuneately narrowed at base ; upper surface 

 shining, lower pale ; 4 to 10 in. long, 2 to 5 in. broad ; midrib stout, 

 raised on both sides ; main nerves many, 20 to 26 pairs, slender, parallel, 

 leaving the midrib at an angle of about 80° and slightly curving to 

 meet in an intramarginal nerve close to the edge ; secondary nerves 1 to 

 2 between each pair of main nerves branching and joining the irregular 

 reticulations ; petiole '5 to 1'5 in. long, thick. Cymes in short, thick, 

 corymbose branches ; primary peduncles stout, 1 to 4 in. long; secondary 

 peduncles about 1 in. long ; branches and pedicels short, thick ; lower 

 bracts somewhat leafy, upper deciduous ; bracteoles 2, triangular, on the 

 pedicels below the calyx ; flowers white ; buds elongate. Calyx-lohes 



