76 XIII. TRBMANDEE^. 



wanting ; the testa crustaceous, glabrous or hairy ; albumen fleshy or almost 

 cartilaginous. Embryo small, straight, with a superior radicle. — ^Bhrubs usually 

 heath-like, glabrous or glandular-hairy, with small alternate opposite or verticil- 

 late leaves, rarely with a stellate tomentum and larger leaves. Flowers solitary, 

 on axillary pedicels, usually red or purple. In many species, as in Pittosporea 

 and PolygalecB, a flower may here and there be found with a 3-merous ovary 

 and fruit. 



The Order is strictly confined to Australia, and although showing some affinity with 

 Cheiranthera in Pittosporece, as well as with Polygaleie proper, it is yet very different from 

 either ; the connection with Lasiopetalece, insisted upon by Steetz, appears to rest almost entirely 

 on the valvate calyx, and on an occasional resemblance in habit, which is, however, partaken in 

 by Bauera and several other genera of Australian heath-like shrubs, which have little else in 

 common. — Benth. 



1. TETRATHECA, Sm. 



(Prom tetra, four, and theka, a box. Anthers 4-celled.) 



Stamens apparently in a simple series, the anthers continuous with the 

 filaments, 2-celled or 4-celled with 2 of the cells in front of the 2 others, more or 

 less contracted into a tube at the top. Disk none. Capsule opening only at the 

 edges. Seeds with an appendage at the chalazal end, usually contorted and 

 glabrous or glandular-hairy. Leaves alternate, verticillate or scattered, heath- 

 like and entire, or flat and toothed, or reduced to minute scales. 



1. T. thymifolia (thyme-leaved), Sm. Exot. Bot. i. 41 t. 22. Intermediate 

 between T. ciliata and T. ericifolia, it has usually the tall habit of the former, 

 but is much more pubescent or hirsute. Leaves almost all verticillate in threes 

 or fours, ovate-elliptical or lanceolate, the margins more or less recurved or 

 revolute. Flowers of T. ciliata, except that the sepals are usually ovate- 

 lanceolate, more acute or acuminate than in either of the two allied species, and 

 seldom reflexed. Ovary glabrous, or more frequently pubescent, with 2 super- 

 posed ovules in each cell, and occasionally a third collateral one. Capsule broad, 

 2 to 4 lines long. Seed hairy. 



Hab.; Sandy coast lands of the southern parts of the colony. Flowering about from Feb. to 

 May. 



Order XIV. POLYGALEiE. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, irregular. Sepals 5, free, much imbricate, the 2 

 inner ones usually larger and petal-like. Petals 3 or 5, rarely all free, most 

 frequently 2 or 4 in pairs united at the base with the lower concave or helmet- 

 shaped petal or keel and often with the staminal tube. Stamens 8, rarely 5 or 

 4, usually united to above the middle in a sheath open on the upper side. Anthers 

 erect, 1 or 2-celled, usually opening by a single terminal or oblique pore. Torus 

 small, or rarely expanded into a disk within the stamens. Ovary free, 2-celled 

 or rarely 1 -celled, or in a few flowers 3 to 5-oelled. Style simple, usually curved 

 at the top, with a variously shaped entire or 2-lobed stigma. Ovules usually 

 solitary in each cell, pendulous, anatropous with a ventral raphe. Seeds pendu- 

 lous, the crustaceous testa often hairy, and bearing a caruncle at the hilum or at 

 the opposite end. Albumen fleshy or rarely deficient. Embryo straight, with 

 flat, convex, or rarely thick and fleshy cotyledons. — Herbs, undershrubs, or small 

 shrubs, rarely tall shrubs, climbers or trees (one tree in Queensland, Xanthophyllum), 

 glabrous or hairy, but without stellate hairs. Leaves usually alternate and 

 entire, without stipules, very rarely opposite. Flowers solitary or in spikes or 

 racemes, rarely paniculate, the pedicels usually articulate at the base, with a sub- 

 tending bract and 2 bracteoles. 



