Ord. MALPIGHIACEiE. 



Arbores vel fmtices, ssepe scandentes, foliis oppositis inte- 

 gris penninerviis stipulatis, pilis dum adsunt medio afRxis : 

 dicotyledoneas, hypogynas, S-merse, plerumque lO-andras tri- 

 gynm ; petalis unguiculatis penninerviis sepalisque persisteii- 

 tibus aestivatione imbricatis ; disco nullo ; carpellis discretis 

 aut plerumque in ovario 3-loculari connatis ; ovulis in loculis 

 solitariis e funiculo pendente adscendentihus saepius unci- 

 formibus, micropyle supera ; embryone exalbuminoso, cotyle- 

 donibus ssepissime conduplicatis vel homotrope convolutis. 



MALPiGHiiE, Juss. Gen. p. 252. 



Malpighiace^;, Juss. in Ann. Mus. 18. p. 479. DC. Prodr. 1. p. 577. 

 Bartl. Ord. Nat. p. 385. Adr. Juss. in St. Ilil. Fl. Bras. 3. p. 3, 

 «& Monogr. (in Archiv. Mus. 3.) 1843. Endl. Gen. p. 1057. 

 Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 388. 



The Malpighia Family, which has recently been the subject of a most 

 elaborate and able monograph by Professor Adrien de Jussieu, barely makes 

 its appearance on the southern border of the United States. When the first 

 volume of the Flora of North America, by Dr. Torrey and myself, was 

 completed, no plant of the order was known to be indigenous within its lim- 

 its. Recently, however, an undescribed species of Galphimia, which is 

 remarkable for being nearly herbaceous, has been detected in the central 

 parts of Texas, and the genus is accordingly here illustrated. Some other 

 Mexican genera doubtless extend into the newly acquired territory between 

 the Nueces and the Rio Grande. Indeed, I possess an imperfect specimen, 

 gathered at Corpus Christi, of what appears to be Malpighia glabra, Linn. ; 

 and a West Indian species of Byrsonima also grows on Key West. 



The order now comprises about forty-two genera, and over five hundred 

 and fifty species ; nearly all of them intertropical. A few are African, a 

 somewhat larger number Asiatic and Polynesian ; but far the greater portion 

 are natives of the West Indies, Mexico, and South America, especially 

 Brazil, where more than half of the known species are found. 



The only extratropical family witb whicli this need be compared is Acera- 

 cca?, with which llic earlier bolanista confounded liie species known to iheni 



