THE LORANTHACEAE OF AUSTRALIA. Part iii. 

 By W. F. Blakely, Botanical Assistant, National Herbarium, Sydney 



(Plates xxxix.-xlvii.) 



[Read 27th September, 1922.] 

 LORANTHUS L. 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx short, dentate or truncate. Corolla sym- 

 metrical or only slightly irregular, resting upon a small, somewhat raised disc. 

 Petals 4 to 6, free or partly united. Filaments usually adnate to the centre of 

 the petals, convexed or compressed; anthers usually linear, two- to four-celled, 

 the cells opening vertically, basifixed. Style filiform, terete or angular, some- 

 times geniculate below the small conical or sub-capitate stigma. Fi'uit baccate, 

 crowned by the persistent calyx; epicarp thick, coriaceous. Seeds albuminous, 

 issuing basally or apically from the epicarp, surrounded by viscin; embryo 

 usually green, straight or curved, clavate or awl-shaped; cotyledons usually two, 

 obtuse or acute, often remaining in the endospenn when germination takes place. 



Leafy parasitic shrubs with brittle, jointed branches without stipules. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, ptnninerved, tri-, or quinque-nerved. Flowers solitary, or 

 the common peduncle bifurcate, eymose or racemose, each flower supported by a 

 single, deciduous or persistent, sessile or pedicellate bract. 



The genus as defined by Engler represents over .300 species, but subsequent 

 additions probably more than double that number. 



'I'he countries best represented are South Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands, New 

 Guinea, and Australia. Australia has 41 species. 



Subgenus 



lULOEANTHl 



Benth. 



Ke;/ to the species. 

 Buds usually clavate; flowers 4- to 6-merous, petals free or very shortly united 

 at the base. Anthers adnate. 



Sect. Amteiia. 

 Petals 4 or 5, rarely 6. Fruit with strange inter-running scleroids. 



