XXIll. STEECULIACE^.. l36 



Lamina of the petals short, sessile. Stamens o. 



Staminodia single between each '2 stamens, lanceolate 11. RnLixoiA. 



Staminodia 3 between each 2 stamens, all linear-spa thulate, or the central 

 one lanceolate, and the lateral ones subulate 12. CoMjucnsoNiA, 



Tkibe VI. Xiasiopetaleae. — Flowerx hermaplirodite. Petals small and scaU-like or none. 



Anthers (linear-oblong) opening outwards in parallel slits. 

 Calyx herbaceous, scarcely enlarged, and not coloured after flowering. 



Staminodia large. Carpels membranous, winged 13, Sehixoia. 



Calyx enlarged after flowering, thin and coloured. Staminodia single or 



none. Capsule or carpels membranous, rounded or rarely winged . . 14. Kkb.iudkenia. 

 Calyx strongly ribbed after flowering. Staminodia 3 between each 2 



stamens. Capsule hard or woody 15. Hannai-obwa. 



1. STERCULIA, Linn. 

 (Derived from the bad scent of the flowers of some species.) 



(Brachychiton, Triohosiphon, aitd Pcecilodermis, Schott ; Delabechia, Lindl.) 



Flowers unisexual or polygamous. Calyx more or less deeply 5-cleft, rarely 4- 

 cleft, usually coloured. Petals none. Staminal column adnate to the gynophore, 

 bearing at the summit 15 or rarely 10 stamens, irregularly clustered in a head. 

 Carpels of the ovary 5, distinct or nearly so, with 2 or more ovules in each. 

 Styles united under the peltate or lobate stigma. Fruit-carpels distinct, spreading, 

 either firm or woody, and scarcely opening along the inner edge, or thinner and 

 opening as follicles, even long before they are ripe. Seeds 1 or more in each 

 carpel, rarely winged ; albumen adhering to the cotyledons, often splitting in two, 

 assuming the aspect of fleshy cotyledons ; real cotyledons flat or nearly so, and 

 thin, the radicle next the hilum or at the opposite end, or intermediate. — Trees. 

 Leaves undivided or lobed, or digitately compound. Flowers in panicles or rarely 

 racemes, mostly axillary, sometimes very short ; terminal flowers usually female ; 

 in these the staminal column is shorter and the anthers less perfect than in the 

 males, surrounding the base of the ovary ; in the males the ovary is often entirely 

 abortive. 



A large genus, almost entirely tropical, and more abundant in Asia than in Africa or America, 

 where however several species are found. The Australian ones are all endemic. 



The species of this genus were distributed by Schott into a number of genera, founded chiefly 

 on the flowers and habit, afterwards reduced and rearranged by E. Brown, chiefly on carpological 

 characters, without reference to habit or calyx. The majority of the Australian ones belong to 

 the group distinguished by E. Brown chiefly by the seeds having a loose outer coating covered 

 with hairs, which in some species are so adhesive that the seeds fall out in their inner coating 

 only, leaving the outer coating adhering to the equally hairy endocarp, with the appearance of 

 the cells of a beehive ; and by the radicle next to the hilum. The seeds do not appear to cohere 

 in all the species ; in some they are hitherto unknown, and in flowers and habit S. raiiiiflora 

 and S. rupestris, and S. quadrifida are more different from each other than from species belong- 

 ing respectively to other groups. Among species not Australian, the position of the radicle 

 unites two very heteromorphous ones under Firmiana, and would (as observed to me by M. 

 Poinsot, of the Paris Herbarium) lead to separate S. mexieana froin other digitate-leaved 

 American species. I have, therefore, with Kndlicher and others, considered Schott and Brown's 

 genera as sections only. — Benth. 



Sect. I. Sterculla. — Radicle at the end remote from the hilmn. Seeds and inside of the 

 carpels glabrmiB. 

 Leaves large, entire. Calyx-lobes 4, cohering at the tips . . .... 1. S. quadrifida. 



Leaves large, entire. Calyx-lobes expanding 2. S. laurifolia. 



Sect. 2. Sracliyclliton. — Radicle next the hilum. Seeds and inside of the carpels usually 

 villous, often cohering. Leaves entire or lobed (digitate only on some branches of S. rupestris.) 

 Calyx-lobes spreading. 



Calyx-lobes (where known) with induplieate margins. Seeds (where known) 

 scarcely cohering. Leaves tomentose or pubescent, at least underneath. 

 Flowers large, sessile. (ISrachgchitoii, Schott). 



