Vaitilaflo.] XXXVIII. flHAMlSlE^. 267 



short erect stigmatic lobes. Nut globular at the base, produced into an oblong or 

 linear coriaceous wing, 1-celled and 1-seeded, indehiscent. Seed globular; testa 

 membranous ; albumen none ; cotyledons thick and fleshy. — Climbing shrubs or 

 trees. Leaves alternate, penninerved. Flowers small, clustered along the 

 branches of axillary or terminal panicles. 



The genus is dispersed over the tropical regions of the Old World. The Australian species are 

 endemic, differing from the others in habit and foliage as well as in the absence of petals. 

 A small tree. Branohlets glabrous. Leaves narrow-lanceolate, 2 to 5in. long, 



entire 1. V. viminalig. 



A tall climber. Branohlets and inflorescence hairy. Leaves IJ to 2in. long, 



ovate-lanceolate, the margins dentioulate-repandulate 2. V. ecorollata. 



1. v. viminalis (branches flexible), Hook, in Mitch. Trop. Amtr. 869; Benth. 

 Fl. Au.str. i. ill. " Thandorah," Cloncurry, Palmer. A small glabrous tree. 

 Leaves narrow-lanceolate, 2 to 4 or even 5in. long, entire, narrowed into a petiole, 

 coriaceous, the pinnate veins very oblique and sometimes almost parallel with the 

 midrib, without the elegant transverse venation of the rest of the genus. Panicles 

 not much branched or almost reduced to simple racemes, shorter than the leaves, 

 solitary or clustered in the axils. Calyx about 1 line long. Petals none. Disk 

 entirely adnate to the short broad calyx-tube. Ovary slightly immersed in the 

 disk. Fruit glabrous, about lin. long including the wing, the turbinate adnate 

 base of the calyx not attaining above a quarter the length of the globular nut. 



Hab.: High sandy ridges on the Maranoa, Mitchell; Gulf of Carpentaria, F. u. Mueller; 

 Kookhampton, O'Shanesy ; Barcoo and many other inland localities. 



This is one of the woods recorded as being used by the aborigines for making boomerangs and 

 fire-sticks. — Palmer. 



2. V. ecorollata (without corolla), F. c. M. in Wing's So. 8c. Rec, 1883. 

 A tall, climbing plant, the branchlets hairy-pubescent. Leaves on short petioles, 

 ovate-lanceolate, shining on both sides. If to 2in. long, the margins denticulate- 

 crenulate ; texture chartaceous. Eacemes axillary, about lin. long, scarcely 

 pedunculate, hairy. Pedicels fascicled, of equal length or shorter than the 

 flowers. Calyx about 1 line long, yellow inside. Petals none. Filaments 

 inserted on the margin of the disk. Anthers oblong or oval-dorsifixed. Disk 

 entire, slightly adnate to the tube of the calyx. Style somewhat thick, 

 compressed, very shortly 2-fid, the lower portion pilose. Fruit surrounded only 

 at the base by the tube of the calyx, its appendage narrowly lanceolate-oblong, 

 glabrous. — Berchemia ecorollata, F. v. M. Fragm. ix. 141. 



Hab.: Rockingham Bay, J. Dallachy, and Endeavour River, Persich (F. v. M., I.e.) 



2. ZIZYPHUS, Juss. 

 (From its Arabic name.) 



Calyx 5-lobed, spreading. Petals hood-shaped or rarely none. Stamens 5, 

 included in the petals or scarcely exceeding them, when present. Disk flat, fillmg 

 the short calyx-tube. Ovary immersed in the disk, 2, rarely 3 or 4-celled ; style 

 shortly branched or styles distinct ; stigmas small. Drupe ovoid or globular, 

 putamen woody or bony, 1 to 4-celled, 1 to 4-seeded. Seeds with a smooth 

 fragile testa ; albumen none or scanty ; cotyledons thick. — Trees or shrubs, 

 usually armed with stipular prickles. Leaves alternate, 3 or 5-nerved, often 

 distichous and very oblique. Flowers small, greenish, in axillary cymes. Fruit 

 often edible. 



The genus ranges over the tropical and subtropical regions of the New and the Old World. 

 The two Queensland species are also common Asiatic ones. 

 Leaves green on both sides, softly pubescent or villous, or at length glabrous. 



Drupe small, 2-celled : . • ■ • . ■ \. f:. (EnnpUn. 



Leaves white or rusty underneath, with a close tomentum. Ovary and drupes 



2-celled' 2. Z.jujuba. 



