170 XXVI. MALPIGHIACE^. 



2. TRISTELLATEIA, Thouars. 

 (Referring to the star-like wings of the 3 carpels.) 



Calyx without any or with very minute glands. Petals distinctly clawed. 

 Stamens all perfect, filaments rigid, truncate, and articulate at the top ; anthers 

 acute. Ovary :-J-lobed, style single or 2, or very rarely 3 unequal ones, the others 

 reduced to small papillaa. Fruit-carpels 3, each one bearing about 7 small hnear 

 stellately spreading wings. Seeds obovoid ; testa membranous, cotyledons fleshy, 

 hooked. — Woody climbers. Leaves opposite or whorled, the petioles bearing 1 or 

 2 glands at the top, and minute stipules at the base. Flowers yellow, in terminal 

 or lateral racemes. 



A small genus ranging over Madagascar and the Indian Archipelago, one species from the 

 latter region extending into Australia. — Benth. 



1. T. australasica (Australasian), A. Bkh. Sert. Astml. 38, t. 15 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Austr. i. 280. A tall, glabrous climber. Leaves opposite, on rather short 

 petioles, ovate, acute, 2 to 4in. long, membranous, the glands of the petiole 

 usually single and sometimes wanting. Eacemes terminal, loose, 4 to 6in. long, 

 Pedicels opposite, -| to lin. long, articulate, with 2 minute bracteoles below the 

 middle. Petals 3 or 4 lines long, spreading, the lamina ovate-cordate, the claw 

 slender. Filaments much thickened below the middle, and very shortly united. 

 Fruit (only seen in Archipelago specimens) quite glabrous, the wings of the carpels 

 unequal, the longest often 3 lines long. 



Hab.: Brown's River, M'GiUivray. 



The species is found in various islands of the Indian Archipelago. The specimens described 

 under the name of Platynema laurifolium by Wight and Arnott, in .Jameson's Journal, and 

 inserted in their " Prodromus," p. 107, as of doubtful Ceylonese origin, provsd afterwards to have 

 been from Singapore. — Benth. 



Order XXVII. ZYGOPHYLLEiE. 



Flowers usually hermaphrodite and regular. Sepals 5 or 4, very rarely 6, free 

 or connate at the base, imbricate or rarely valvate in the bud. Petals as 

 many, free, imbricate or contorted, rarely valvate or wanting. Disk convex or 

 depressed, rarely annular or undeveloped. Stamens usually the same or twice 

 the number of the petals, the filaments most frequently with a scale or wings at 

 or below the middle ; anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally. Ovary sessile or 

 shortly stalked, often angular, with as many cells as petals or sepals, rarely 

 more or fewer ; style simple, with a simple or rarely lobed stigma. Ovules 2 or 

 more in each cell, rarely solitary, pendulous or ascending, with a ventral raphe. 

 Fruit sometimes drupaceous, never baccate, more usually separating into inde- 

 hiscent or 2-valved cocci, the endocarp occasionally separating. Seeds solitary or 

 rarely several, pendulous ; testa membranous, crustaceous, or thick and 

 mucilaginous when wetted ; albumen usually thin. Embryo as long as the seed, 

 green, straight, or rarely curved ; cotyledons oblong or linear, radicle short, 

 superior. — Shrubs, undershrubs, or herbs, the branches usually divaricate and 

 articulate at the nodes. Leaves opposite, or rarely alternate by the abortion of 

 1 of each pair, 2- foliate or pinnate, rarely simple, the leaflets usually entire. 

 Stipules in pairs. Peduncles axillary, 1-flowered, or rarely branching into cymes. 

 Flowers mostly white, yellow, or red. 



A small Order, nearly allied on the one hand to MuLijifiliiacea', on the other to Gvnininoeui and 

 Eutacaz, dispersed chiefly over the subtropical regions of both the Old and New World, and most 

 abundant in dry desert or saline regions. The three Australian genera are all common to Africa 

 and Asia, and one of them extends also to Europe and America. — Benth. 



