372 pentAndbia monogyniA. Sphacrocanja. 



Branches round ; young shoots and leaves clothed with abundance of 

 long, silky, shining hairs. Buds ovate, rather large, sericeous, consist- 

 ing of rounded, imbricate scales. — Leaves alternate, spreading, ovate- 

 oblong, acuminate, perfectly entire, with somewhat recurved mar- 

 gins, base acute ; smooth and shining above, with furrows along the 

 primary vessels, underneath with elevated rib, and a few alternate, very 

 oblique, strong, hairy nerves, and reticulate veins ; of a rather fleshy 

 or juicy texture, from three to six, and on luxuriant shoots even 

 eight or nine inches long, deciduous during the winter months, and 

 beginning to shoot forth about the period of blossoming. — Pe- 

 iiol scarcely half an inch long, convex underneath, channelled 

 above. Stipules none.- — Racemes terminal and from the outer axils 

 solitary, sub-sessile, densely villous, from two to three inches lon<*, 

 consisting of a few alternate, small, greenish, inodorous flowers, on 

 short, clavate., fleshy naked pedicels. — Calyx above, five-parted, per- 

 sistent, as are also the corolla, filaments, and style ; lacinitz triangu- 

 lar, acute, villous towards the apex, smooth within, spreading, scarce- 

 ly half a line long, valvate during aestivation. Petals five, minute, 

 ovate-obtuse, smooth, inserted within the fissures of the calyx, shor- 

 ter than its laciniae. Filaments five, short, smooth, erect, alternating 

 -with the petals, inserted at the bottom of the laciniae of the calyx and 

 opposite to them. Anthers erect, white, bilocular. Five exceedingly 

 minute scales, bearded or fringed with a tuft of white succulent hairs, 

 inserted between the filament and the opposite segment of the 

 calyx.— Ovary underneath, clavate, rather laige, shining, pubescent, 

 concave at the top within the flower, one-celled, one-seeded; ovuluni 

 oblong, pulpy, erect, supported by a fleshy, sub-diaphanous, spiral- 

 ly twisted chord, which rises from the bottom of the ovary and is 

 conducted to the oblong cell by means of a proper tube or canal. 

 Style cyhndric, short. Stigma convex, obscurely two-lobed. — Drupe 

 pear-shaped, about two inches and a half long, and one and a half 

 thick, covered with a yellowish-green, tough cuticle, supported by 

 a short, somewhat thickened peduncle ; the upper or broad end 

 rounded with a central, pi etty deep impression, which is surrounded 



