270 XXXVIII. RHAMNE^. [Coluhrina. 



separating into 3, rarely 4 membranous or crustaceous cocci, opening inwards by 

 a longitudinal slit. Seeds without any arillus ; testa smooth, shining, coria- 

 ceous ; albumen fleshy but thin ; cotyledons flat or incurved, thin or rather 

 thick. — Erect or half-climbing shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, 3-nerved at the 

 base or penninerved in species not Australian. Stipules small, deciduous. 

 Flowers small, in axillary cymes or clusters. 



The species are nearly all American, tropical or subtropical, with one from tropical Asia, 

 extending also into Australia. 



1. C. asiatica (Asiatic), Brongn.; W. and Am. Prod. 166 (with the synonyms 

 adduced) ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 418. A large shrub or small tree, unarmed, and 

 quite glabrous, with long, slender, often flexuose branches. Leaves petiolate, 

 ovate or broadly cordate, acuminate, 2 to Sin. long, crenate-serrate, 8-nerved and 

 penninerved, smooth and shining, but scarcely coriaceous. Cymes shortly pedun- 

 culate, rarely exceeding the petioles. Flowers greenish, about 2 lines diameter. 

 Fruit about 4 lines diameter, depressed at the top, furrowed opposite the 

 dissepiments, the endocarp separating more or less perfectly into 3 or rarely 4 

 membranous cocci. 



Hab.: Cape York, M'Gillivray ; Cape Grafton and Eodd's Bay, A. Cunningham; Howiok's 

 Group, F. V. Mueller ; Shoalwater Passage, B. Brown ; Port Denison, Eockingham Bay, and 

 Russell River, of later collectors. 



The species is common in tropical Asia, extending to the Pacific Islands. 



6. ALPHITONIA, Reissek. 



(Seeds like pearl barley.) 



Calyx 5-lobed, spreading. Petals involute. Stamens 5, included in the petals. 

 Disk thick, filling the calyx-tube. Ovary immersed in the disk, 2 or rarely 

 3-eelled, tapering into a shortly lobed style. Drupe globular or broadly ovoid, 

 the epicarp of a dry, mealy, or somewhat corky substance ; endocarp of 2 or 8 

 hard coriaceous nuts or cocci, opening inwards by a longitudinal slit. Seeds 

 with a shining hard testa, completely enclosed in a membranous brown shining 

 arillus, open at the top, but with the edges folded over ; albumen cartilaginous or 

 horny ; cotyledons flat. — Tree. Leaves alternate, penninerved. Cymes dicho- 

 tomous, many-flowered. Seeds often persisting on the torus after the pericarp 

 has fallen off. 



The genus is probably limited to a single species, ranging from Australia to the Pacific 

 Islands. 



1. A. excelsa (tall), Eeissek, in Endl. Gen. 1098; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 414. 

 Red Ash. " Ane," Batavia River, TFard ; " Meeamee," Moreton Bay, Watkins; 

 "Baragara," Cairns, Cowley; " Dunanya," Taromeo, Shirley. A tall hard- 

 wooded timber-tree, the young branches, petioles, and inflorescence hoary or rusty 

 with a close tomentum. Leaves petiolate, varying from broadly ovate or almost 

 orbicular and very obtuse to ovate or lanceolate and acute or acuminate, usually 

 8 to 6in. long, entire, coriaceous, glabrous or slightly hoary above, white, or . 

 rarely rust-coloured underneath with a close tomentum, the parallel pinnate veins 

 very prominent. Flowers 2 to 3 lines diameter, in little umbel-like cymes, 

 arranged in dichotomous cymes in the upper axils or in a terminal corymbose 

 panicle. Calyx tomentose. Disk broad and nearly flat. Fruit 8 or 4 lines 

 diameter, or sometimes rather larger. —Coluhrina excelsa, Fenzl, in Hueg. Enum. 

 20. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Sweers Island, Curtis Island, Eockhampton, Port 

 Denison, Brisbane River, Moreton Bay. 



The Carpentaria island specimens belong to a variety with remarkably large obtuse leaves, the 

 flowers rather larger than usual, and the tomentum somewhat rusty. To this belongs Zuyplms 

 pomaderrmde$, Fenzl, in Hueg. Enum. 20, judging from E. Brown's specimens corresponding to 



