X,/!osmn.] XI. BIXINB^. 67 



Seeds 2 to 8, with a smooth crustaoeous testa. Cotyledons broad. — Trees, often 

 thorny. Leaves toothed or rarely quite entire. Flowers small, axillary, clustered, 

 or shortly racemose. 



A genus widely dispersed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the New and the Old 

 World. The only Australian species is endemic. 



1. X. ovatum (from form of leaf), Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 108. Glabrous in all 

 its parts, the branches short and slender, rough with lentioels, and in our speci- 

 mens without thorns. Leaves mostly ovate, obtuse, about IJin. long, quite 

 entire, narrowed into a very short petiole, thinly coriaceous, with numerous fine 

 reticulate veins ; a few lower leaves short and almost orbicular, and the upper 

 ones narrow. Male flowers not seen. Female flowers very small, 5 or 6 together 

 in very short axillary racemes. Pedicels about 1 line long, in the axils of small, 

 ovate, ciliate bracts. Sepals 4, orbicular, ciliate, about ^ line long. Disk deeply 

 lobed or divided. Ovary ovoid, conical, but scarcely tapering into a distinct 

 style, with a broad, thick, slightly 2-lobed stigma. Placentas 2, very prominent, 

 forming a complete dissepiment above the insertion of the ovules, but far from 

 meeting below. Ovules 2 to each placenta. Fruit a berry about 4 lines diameter, 

 black, maturing 1 to 4 seeds. Testa brown outside, smooth. 



Hab,: N.E. coast. 



This appears to come nearest to X. orbiculatum, Porst., which, judging from Fiji Island 

 specimens, has a similar almost sessile stigma, but its leaves are much larger and broader, and 

 the ovary has 3 placentas, a 3-lobed stigma, and more than 2 ovules to each placenta. — Benth. 



Order XII. PITTOSPOREJE. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, regular or oblique. Sepals 5, distinct and imbricate, 

 or rarely connate at the Ijase. Petals 5, imbricate, the claws or narrowed base 

 usually erect and connivent or cohering in a tube, rarely spreading from the base. 

 Stamens 5, hypogynous, free, alternating with the petals. Torus small, rarely 

 produced into a short gynophore, sometimes bearing 5 glands. Ovary 1-celled, 

 with 2 or rarely 3 to 5 parietal placentas, or divided into cells by the protrusion 

 of the placentas, which often . unite in the axis, at least after flowering. Style 

 simple, with an entire, small, capitate, or dilated stigma. Ovules several, super- 

 posed in 2 rows on each placenta, horizontal. Fruit either a capsule opening 

 loculicidally, the valves sometimes splitting also septicidally, or succulent and 

 indehiscent. Seeds several or rarely solitary in each cell, dry or enveloped in 

 pulp, with a thin testa, smooth or rarely muricate, and a hard albumen. 

 Embryo very small, in a cavity of the albumen next the hilum. — Trees, erect 

 shrubs, or undershrubs, with flexuose, decumbent or twining branches. Leaves 

 alternate, entire, toothed, or rarely lolaed, without stipules. Flowers white, blue, 

 yellow, or rarely reddish, terminal or axillary, solitary and nodding, or in short 

 racemes or corymbose panicles. 



With the exception of Pittosporum itself, the genera are all limited to Australia. 



* Anthers ovate or oblong. Capsule dehiscent. Petals (except in Bursaria) erect at the base. 



Trees or erect shrubs. Petals erect at the base. Capsule thick or 

 coriaceous. Seeds several. 



Seeds thick, not winged. ' Flowers usually small 1. Pittospoedm. 



Seeds flat, horizontal, winged. Flowers large, yellow 2. Hymenosporum. 



Erect shrubs, often prickly. Petals ' small, spreading from the base. 



Capsule thin, small, and flat. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell, vertical, flat . 3. Buesaeia. 

 Undershrubs or twiners, , Petals erect at the base. Capsule membranous 



or thinly coriaceous, Seeds thjoji or Jjorizgntal ..,.,,.. 4, Maeianihus, 



