204 XXIX. EUTACE^. 



15. ZANTHOXYLUM, Linn. 

 (Wood of a yellow colour.) 

 (Blackburnia, Forst.) 

 Flowers more or less unisexual. Calyx 3, 4 or 5-lobed. Petals 8, 4 or 5, 

 imbricate or rarely Valvate or wanting. Disk small or obsolete. Stamens in the 

 niales 8, 4 or 6, the ovary rudimentary or conical, or of 8, 4 or 5 distinct style- 

 like carpels. Female flowers without stamens or with scale-like staminodia. 

 Ovary of 1 to 5 distinct carpels. Styles nearly terminal, distinct or united 

 upwards ; ovules 2 in each carpel, usually collateral. Fruit of 1 to 5 distinct 

 cocci, dry or drupaceous, usually 2-valved ; the endocarp separating or adherent, 

 beeds with a hard or crustaceous shining testa ; albumen fleshy ; embryo straight 

 °^ ™'^™<^' yith broad flat cotyledons.— Shrubs or trees, often armed with 

 scattered prickles, and sometimes climbing. • Leaves alternate, usually pinnate. 

 J^ lowers small, m axillary or terminal cymes or panicles. 



A large genus, dispersed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the whole world, Of the 

 louowmg species, two are endemic in Australia, the third is also in Norfolk Island. All three 

 rest of the ^^^ °° -B'acftMniw, characterised chiefly by solitary carpels, which are rare in the 



Tree the trunk and branches prickly and here and there prickles upon 

 the petioles, rhachis and costules. 



Leaflets 9 to 13, oblong-elliptical, acuminate, U to 4in. long . . . 1. Z. brachyacanthum. 

 liee, the trunk and branches often prickly. 



Leaflets 5 to 9, oblong-lanceolate, 3 to 6in. long, 1 to 2in. broad . . 2. Z. veneficum. 

 Tall climber, all parts prickly. 



Leaflets 5 to 9, broadly ovate, 3 to Sin. long, the margins with bristly 



J fl . ■ ■ ", B. Z. torvum. 



ijeanets scarcely oblique, not coriaceous. Panicles terminal. Flowers 



very numerous, under IJ line 4. Z. parviflora. 



■ Vn^" ''^^'^'^yacanthum (alluding to the short prickles), F. v. M. PL rict. 

 1. 108; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 863. Satin-wood. A small tree, the trunk and 

 branches covered with short conical prickles. Leaves pinnate, the common 

 petiole 6 to lOin. long. Leaflets usually 9 to 13, opposite in pairs, with or with- 

 out a terminal odd one, petiolulate, from ovate to oblong-elliptical, shortly 

 acuminate, 2 to 8in. or more long, equal or oblique at the base, coriaceous and 

 shining. Panicles axillary and terminal, much shorter than the leaves, irregularly 

 2— 8-chotomous. Flowers white, on very short pedicels, the males nearly 3 lines 

 long, the females shorter. Sepals 4, small and broad. Petals obtuse, much 

 imbricate. Ovary rudimentary in the male flowers, in the females consisting of a 

 single carpel with a large oblique stigma, nearly sessile or on a very short style, 

 terminal but excentrical. Fruit opening wide to the middle in 2 valves. Seed 

 black. — Benth, I.e. 



Hab.: Common on the southern ranges ; also met with at a few places in the tropics, according 

 toP. V. M. ' " y ' b 



Wood a glossy yellow, superior to the wood used in Europe under the name of " satinwood." 

 —Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods No. 45. 



2. %, veneficum (poisonous), Bail. 1st Suppl. Synop. Ql. Flora ii., Bot. BulL 

 vii. A medium-sized tree, glabrous, the branches and sometimes the stem 

 prickly. Leaves (including the petiole) from 6 to 12in. long. Leaflets 5 to 9, 

 opposite in pairs, with or without a terminal oddone, petiolulate, oblong- 

 lanceolate, shortly acuminate, unequally sided at the base, 8 to 6in. long, 1 to 

 2in. broad, the primary veins prominent, almost transversely spreading, prickles 

 none or scarcely any on the rhachis, petiolule 1 or costules. Panicles terminal 

 and in the upper axils, trictotomous. Flowers small, in threes or fours at the 

 ends of the branchlets of the panicle. Pedicels short. Buds globose. Sepals 4, 

 scarcely over ^ line in diameter. Petals 4, ovate, spreading, 2i lines long, 



