246 XXXIII. OLACINE^. [Olax. 



2. O. Stricta (upright), R. Br. Prod. 358 ; Benth. Fl. Amtr. i. 392. An 

 erect, glabrous shrub, of 2 or 3ft., with slender virgate branches. Leaves narrow- 

 oblong or linear, acute or obtuse, but always mucronate, J to ^in. or rarely fin. 

 long, flat, with a prominent midrib, narrowed or rarely rounded at the base. 

 Pedicels scarcely 1 line long. Petals varying from 2 to 3 lines. Filaments flat- 

 tened to very near the anthers, glabrous ; staminodia linear, entire, more or less 

 bearded below the middle. Fruit obovoid-oblong, often 4 lines long or rather 

 more. 



Hab.: Edges of lagoons, Moreton Island. 



3. O. aphylla (leafless), R. Br. Prod. 358 ; Berith. Fl. Anstr. i. 393. A 

 shrub of several feet, with numerous wiry, virgate, slightly pubescent branches. 

 Leaves all reduced to minute scales. Flowers very small, almost sessile in the 

 axils of orbicular ciliate bracts rather longer than the calyx, towards the ends of 

 the branches. Petals scarcely more than 1 line long, densely bearded inside 

 about the middle. Staminodia linear and entire, or slightly spathulate and 

 emarginate at the top. Fruit ovoid, about 2 lines long. 



Hab.: Gulf of Carpentaria. 



8. CANSJERA, Juss. 



(From Tsjerou-Camjeram, Malabar name.) 



Perianth apparently simple, the calyx very minute and often not distinguishable, 

 at the base of the tubular or urceolate 4-lobed corolla. Stamens 4, opposite to 

 the petals or corolla-lobes, and more or less adherent at the base ; filaments 

 filiform ; anthers small. Hypogynous scales (or lobes of the disk) 4, alternating 

 with the stamens. Ovary small, fleshy ; ovule 1, apparently erect or suspended 

 from a short placenta in the centre of the minute cavity. Drupe with a thin 

 sarcocaip. Seed erect ; embryo small or sometimes elongated. — Weak or climbing 

 shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers small, in short axillary spikes. 



Besides the Australian species, which is also in New Ireland, the genus comprises 2 or perhaps 

 3 from tropical Asia,.— Benth. 



1. C. leptostachya (slender spikes of flowers), Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. 

 281, and Fl. Amtr. i. 894. A rambling shrub, never very tall, glabrous or the 

 young shoots very minutely tomentose. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, 

 2 to Sin. long, membranous, glabrous. Spikes 1 or 2 together in the axils, rarely 

 exceeding ^in. Flowers in the young bud strigose-pubescent, sessile in the axils 

 of narrow minute bracts which soon fall off, when fully open about 1 line long, 

 nearly globular and glabrous, the lobes very short and spreading. Filaments 

 slender, but shorter than the perianth. Hypogynous scales short, broad, entire 

 or rarely 3-toothed. Fruit yellow, oval, lin. long, taste not unpleasant. 



Hab.: Cape York and islands off the N.E. coast, A. Gunningham, M'Gillivray. 



The species Is also in New Ireland. The flowers are about half the size of those of the 

 common C. Rheedii, Gmel., and I have not succeeded in detaching the calyx from the corolla, as 

 I have readily done in Malacca specimens of C. Rheedii or of an allied species. — Benth. 



4. OPILIA, Eoxb. 

 (Not explained by author.) 

 Calyx minute, 5 or rarely 4-toothed. Petals 5, rarely 4, hypogynous, valvate 

 in the bud. Stamens as many, alternating with the petals, free ; filaments 

 filiform ; anthers ovate. Disk of 5, rarely 4 scales, alternating with the stamens. 

 Ovary 1 -celled, tapering into a short thick truncate style ; ovule solitary, siispended 

 from a central filiform placenta very early adnate to it. Drupe with a thin sarco- 

 earp and crustaceous endocarp. Seeds spuriously erect ; embryo linear, short, or 



