CELASTRACEiE. 1S5 



Plate 170. 



CELASTRUS, L. 



Flores subdioici. Petala et stamina 5, in marginem disci 

 cupiilasformis inserta. Ovarium liberum 2-4-loculare, locu- 

 lis 2-ovulatis. Semina erecta, arillo carnoso colorato inclusa. 

 — Frutices scandentes, foliis alternis. 



Celastrus, Linn. Gen. 270 (escl. spec). Gaertn. Fr. t. 95. Schkulir, 

 Handb. t. 47 (fig. dextr.). Kunth in H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & 

 Sp. 7. p. 64. Wight, 111. Ind. Bot. t. 72. Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. 

 Am. 1. p. 257. Endl. Gen. 5679. 



StafF-tree. IrVaxwork. Slirubby Bitters\i'eet. 



Flowers dioecious, or dioBcio-polygamous from the abor- 

 tion of the stamens in one set of individuals and of the pistil 

 in another. Calyx herbaceous, with a short urceolate or 

 cup-shaped tube, five-cleft ; the lobes quincuncially imbri- 

 cated in aestivation, persistent. Disk perigynous, fleshy, 

 cup-shaped, filling the tube of the calyx to which it adheres, 

 and with a more or less free crenulate-lobed border. Petals 

 5, inserted by a broad base just under the edge of the disk, 

 alternate with the lobes of the calyx, much larger than they, 

 oblong-obovate, spreading, deciduous, imbricated in aestiva- 

 tion, either quincuncially or with only one exterior and one 

 interior. Stamens 5, inserted into the edge of the disk al- 

 ternate with the petals, shorter than they (in the fertile plant 

 usually mere abortive rudiments) : filaments subulate : an- 

 thers oblong-sagittate or cordate, often mucronate-apiculate, 

 fixed near the base, introrse, two-celled, the cells opening 

 longitudinally. Ovary in the sterile flowers rudimentary in 

 the bottom of the open disk ; in the fertile flowers with the 

 base closely surrounded by the disk, two -four- (usually 

 three-) celled : style thick : stigma two - four-lobed. Ovules 

 two in each cell, erect from its base, collateral, anatropous, 

 on short and fleshy ciipnlatc fanicnli ; the raphes face to face. 

 13 



