334 ^ FLORA OF MANILA 



Species about 150, widely distributed in temperate regions, few in the 

 tropics, 5 or 6 in the Philippines, at medium and high altitudes, a single 

 introduced one in our area. 



* 1. V. ODORATA L. Violeta (Sp.) ; Violet. 



Rootstock stout, the stems short or none, stolons slender. Leaves at the 

 ends of the stems, orbicular to subreniform, base very deeply cordatC: 

 apex rounded, crenate-serrate, slightly hairy, 5 to 8 cm long, long-petioled. 

 Flowers fragrant, 1.5 to 1.8 cm long. Sepals 'green, about 1 cm long, 

 acute or obtuse. Petals violet, throat marked with white or with white 

 lines. Style ending in a small hook. _ 



•Frequently cultivated, fl. Nov.-Jan. A native of Europe, introduced 

 and cultivated only, not spontaneous. 



92. FLACOURTIACEAE (Flacourtia or Bitongol FAMILY) 



Trees or shrubs with alternate, entire or finely toothed leaves, the 

 stipules small, deciduous. Flowers small, regular, perfect or 1-sexual, 

 mostly axillary, fascicled or racemose. Calyx of 4 or 5 free or slightly 

 united sepals. Petals small, as many as the sepals, or none. Stamens 

 definite or indefinite, often with alternating staminodes, the filaments free 

 or slightly united. Ovary superior or nearly so, 1- to several-celled; ovules 

 1 to many in each cell; style and stigmas free or united. Fruit usually 

 fleshy, loculicidally 2- to 5-valved or indehiscent and drupaceous or berry- 

 like. Seeds arillated or not. 



Genera 79, species about 550, in most tropical countries, 10 genera and 

 about 30 species in the Philippines. 



Stamens many; ovary several-celled; fruit drupaceous, indehiscent. 



1. Flacourtia 



Stamens about twice as many as the calyx-lobes; ovary 1-celled; fruit 



dehiscent, the seeds arillate , 2. Casearia 



1. FLACOURTIA Commerson 



Erect shrubs or trees, often spiny. Leaves toothed or crenate. Flowers 

 small, dioecious, rarely perfect. Sepals 4 or 5, small. Petals none. 

 Stamens many. Ovary 2- to 8-celled; ovules usually in pairs; styles 2 or 

 more. Fruit fleshy, the endocarp hard, 2 to 8-celled, each cell 1-seeded. 

 (Named after E. de Flacourt, a French traveller.) 



Species about 12 in the tropics of the Old World, some cultivated, 2 or 

 3 in the Philippines. 



1. F. sepiaria Roxb. Bitongol (Tag.). 



An erect, branched, more or less spiny shrub or small tree 1 to 3 high, 

 the spines rather slender, scattered, often 2 cm long. Leaves obovate to 

 oblong-obovate, crenate, 2.5 to 5 cm long, crenate, apex rounded or retuse. 

 Flowers white, axillary or terminating short branchlets, solitary or in 

 pairs, long-pedicelled, about 5 mm in diameter, the sepals very much 

 shorter than the stamens. Fruit globose and fleshy when fresh, purple or 

 nearly black, smooth, about 1 cm in diameter, the pulp fleshy, edible, the 

 endocarp usually 6-celled, deeply 6-lobed, the fruit conforming to the 

 endocarp when dry. 



In dry open places, Masambong to San Pedro Macati, fl. May-June; 

 widely distributed in the Philippines. India to Malaya. 



