190 PENTANDRiA MONOGYNIA. Schoepfici, 



ealyx, its vertex is convex and surrounded by vestiges of the in- 

 sertion of the corolla and of the superior calyx, which latter is now 

 reduced to a very obscure margin. Flesh soft, about a line in dia- 

 meter. Putamen thin, chartaceous, resembling the drupe in figure, 

 white, veined, with a number of parallel, longitudinal, elevated, 

 anostoinosing lines, one-celled, one-seeded; its vertex slightly umbili- 

 cated and adhering more firmly to the flesh. — Perisperm amygdaline, 

 white, conform to the putamen, its surface slightly rugose, covered 

 by a simple, thin, ferruginous, spungy membrane, on the surface 

 of which, at the upper end of the seed, the two linear abortive 

 ovula are discoverable, and also a vesiige of the axis of the ova- 

 rium to which they are attached. Embryo minute, milk-white, cy- 

 Iindric, straight, situated at the vertex of the perisperm, inverted. 

 Cotyledons parallel, lanceolate, obtuse, convex at the back, constitut- 

 ing one-half of the embryo. Radicula above, sub-turbinate, its 

 apex about half a line from the surface of the perisperm. Plamula 

 inconspicuous. 



Obs. Mons. de Jussieu has justly observed in an excellent me- 

 moire chiefly on the Caprifoliaces, and Loranthea, inserted in Annal. 

 du museum d' histoire naturelle, xii. 300, that this genus' is the 

 connecting link between those families, belonging however, more 

 properly to Loranthea. 1 would add that it is nearly allied to Santa- 

 lacecB of Mr. Brown. The account which the first mentioned immor- 

 tal botanist has given of the fruit, taken from the manuscript of the 

 accurate Richard, as far as it goes, agrees exactly with the present 

 species. The difference of the structure of the ovarium and the 

 fruit has however not been noticed ; and as Schreber describes the 

 genus as having a three-celled berry with several seeds, the number 

 of abortive ovula may perhaps vary. In my tree there are invaria- 

 bly found three ovula, one of which only comes to maturity, the other 

 two abortive ones remaining attached to the upper end of the cavity 

 of the putamen, as does also the axis of the ovarium, in the shape of 

 withered, flattened threads.— Haenkea, Ruiz et Pavon flor. peruv. 

 (hand prodr.) belongs probably to this genus, as has been remarked 

 by Schultes in syst, veg, v, viii. — The fruit bears some resemblance 



