MYBSINACEAE. 315 



Order 1. PRIMULALES. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees. Corolla usually present, gamopetalous. Calyx 

 mostly free from the ovary. Stamens borne on the corolla, as many as its 

 lobes, or twice as many, or more. 



Style 1. 



Shrubs or trees, the fruit drupaceous or baccate. 



Staminodes none ; fruit 1-seeded. Fam. 1. Mtesinacbae. 



Corolla bearing staminodes at the sinuses ; 



fruit several-many-seeded. Fam. 2. Theophkastaceae. 



Herbs ; fruit capsular. Fam. 3. Pkimulaceae. 



Styles 5 ; herbs ; fruit an achene or utricle. Fam. 4. Plumbaginaceab. 



Family 1. MYRSINACEAE Lindl. 



Mybsine Tamily. 



Trees or shrubs, usually glabrous, the leaves mostly alternate, punctate 

 in lines, estipulate, the small regular flowers variously clustered. Calyx 

 inferior, persistent, 4r-6-parted. Corolla mostly rotate or salverform, rarely 

 tubular or of separate petals. Stamens as many as the corolla-segments 

 and opposite them; filaments usually short, distinct or sometimes united; 

 anthers longitudinally dehiscent; staminodes none. Ovary superior, 1- 

 celled; style short or long; stigma various; ovules few, usually immersed 

 in the central placenta. Fruit small, baccate, 1-seeded, sometimes nearly 

 dry. Seed subglobose, the testa thin, the endosperm fleshy or homy. About 

 ■ 20 genera and over 450 species, mostly tropical in distribution. 



Inflorescence paniculate. 1. Icacorea. 



Inflorescence short, umbellate, lateral. 2. Bapanea. 



1. lOACOEEA Aubl. PI. Guian. 2: Suppl. 1. 1775. 



Shrubs or trees, witli alternate, mostly entire leaves and perfect or 

 polygamo-dioecious white or pink flowers in cymes or panicles. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, 4^5-parted. Corolla nearly rotate, usually 5-parted, the segments 

 spreading or reflexed. Stamens usually 5; filaments short or slender, borne 

 at the top of the short corolla-tube; anthers acute or acuminate. Ovary 

 globose; stigma discoid or truncate; ovules several or few. Berry little fleshy. 

 [Guiana name.] Over 200 species, of tropical and subtropical regions. Type 

 species: Icacorea guianensis Aubl. 



Style filiform, much longer than the ovary. 1. J. paniculata. 



Style subulate, not longer than the ovary. 2. /. guadalupensis. 



1. Icacorea paniculata (Nutt.) Sudw. Gard. & For. 6: 324. 1893. 



Cyrilla paniculata Nutt. Am. Jour. Sei. 5: 290. 1822. 

 Ardisia PicTceringia Torr. & Gray; DC. Prodr. 8: 124. 1844. 



A shrub or small tree, attaining a maximum height of about 7.5 m. with 

 a trunk up to 1.5 dm. in diameter, the bark white, scaly^ the twigs rather stout, 

 puberulent or glabrous. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, short-petioled, oblaneeo- 

 late, obovate or elliptic, 6-16 cm. long, yellowish or dark green above, pale 

 green beneath, the midvein prominent, the lateral veins slender, the apex 

 obtuse or acute, the base narrowed; panicles terminal, densely many -flowered. 



