Mdirt.] XXXllI. MELIACE^. 227 



1. M. composita (referring to the compound leaves), Willd.; W. and Arn. 

 Prod. 117 ; Benth. Ft. Austi: i. 880. White Cedar. An elegant tree, the young 

 leaves, shoots, and inflorescence sprinkled with a mealy stellate tomentum which 

 disappears with age. Leaves twice or rarely thrice pinnate; leaflets petiolulate, 

 opposite with a terminal odd one, ovate to almost lanceolate, acuminate, 1 to 2 in. 

 long, entire, coarsely toothed or sometimes lobed. Panicles loose, shorter than 

 the leaves, retaining the mealy tomentum late, especially on the calyx and petals. 

 Sepals small, ovate. Petals 4 to 5 lines long. Staminal tube hirsute inside 

 behind the anthers, the teeth alternately entire and 2-cleft ; anthers glabrous or 

 sUghtly hirsute. Ovary 5-celled. Drupe ovoid, | to | in. long. — M. Aiistralasica, 

 A. Juss. in Mem. Mns. Ear. xix, 257. 



Hab.: Burdekin Eiver, F. v. Mueller; Broadsound, R. Brown; Eockhampton, Thozet ; 

 Herberton, J. F. Bailey. 



The Australian tree appears to me identical with the M. composita of East India and the 

 Archipelago, and scarcely differs from the more common M. Azedarach, except in the more 

 abundant mealy tomentum, especially on the inflorescence and flowers. The drupe is also usually 

 larger and more ovoid. — Benth. 



The gum is a good substitute for arabic gum. It contains : Arabin 79%, water 21%. — Lauterer. 



Wood easily worked, light-red, soft and light. — Bailey's Gat. Ql. Woods No. 60. 



3. DYSOXYLON, Blume. 

 (Name derived from the disagreeable odour of the wood of D. alliaceiim.) 



(Hartighsea, A. Juss.) 



Calyx small, 4 or 5 -toothed, or divided into 4 or 5 sepals. Petals 4 or 5, free 

 or adnate to the staminal tube, spreading at the top. Staminal tube truncate or 

 8 or 10-toothed ; antheis 8 or 10, within the summit. Disk tubular, as long as 

 or usually much longer than the ovary. Ovary 3 to 5-celled; style elongated; 

 stigma disk-like ; ovules 2 in each cell, or rarely solitary. Capsule globular or 

 pear-shaped, 1 to 5-celled, opening loculicidally in 2 to 5 thickly coriaceous valves. 

 Seeds with or rarely without an arillus, oblong, with a broad ventral hilum ; 

 testa coriaceous ; albumen none ; cotyledons large. — Trees, often foetid. Leaves 

 pinnate, leaflets opposite or alternate in the same species, entire, often oblique. 

 Panicles axillary, loose, but often small. Flowers not very small. 



A considerable genus, spread over tropical Asia and the Indian Archipelago, extending also 

 to New Zealand. The Australian species are all endemic. The genus is readily known by the 

 tubular disk enclosing the ovary within the staminal tube. — Benthj 



Calyx gamosepalous, dentate or rarely partite. Staminal tube free. 



Shrub or small tree. Branchlets smooth, dark-red, with pale lentioels. 

 Panicles much shorter than the leaves. Petals puberulent ; apex 

 subulate. Ovary 5-celled, cells 2-ovulate. Fruit 7 or 8 lines long, 

 seed 1 in each cell 1. D. arborescens. 



Small tree, branchlets green. Panicles very shortly branched, almost 

 racemose. Petals glabrous, apex sharp-acuminate. Fruit sub- 

 globose, rufesoent, glabrous, about lin. long, 4-valvate 2. D. latifolinni. 



Small tree. Leaves glabrous. Eacemose panicles produced from 

 the stem. Calyx large before expansion, entire, bursting to the 

 middle into 2 undivided or slightly cleft lobes. Petals 4, white, 

 elongate-oblong, silky outside, free. Fruit lin. or more long, 4- 

 eelled, 1 seed in each cell with arillus 3. D. Schiffneri. 



Small tree. Branchlets glabrous, brownish. Panicles narrow, 

 puberulent on the 2-years-old wood. Petals silky outside. Fruit 

 subglobose, 4-oelled, 4-seeded, about fin. diameter 4. 2). oppositifolium. 



Small tree. Branchlets terete, glabrous. Panicles with short 

 branches. Pedicels silky, with 2 bracts at the base. Petals 4, very 

 slightly silky outside, about 6 lines long, cohering high up . . . . 5. Z). Klanderi. 

 Staminal tube more or less united with the petals. 



A large deciduous tree. Bark reddish. Young branchlets stout, 

 rough, with prominent lenticels. Flowers in erect axillary spikes. 

 Petals 4, slightly hairy outside near the base. Fruit pyriform, 

 marked with white lenticels, 4-angular, 4-oelled , 6- -D. Pettigrewimum. 



