32 xni. STERCULIACE^. [Sterculia, 



Order XIII. STERCULIACEJl. ' 



Trees, shru'bs, or herlDS, with soft wood, frequently tomentose with 

 steUate hairs. Leaves alternate, mostly stipulate. Flo W6rs_ commonly 

 regular, bisexual or unisexual. Calyx more or less deeply divided into 

 5, rarely 4 or 3, valvate lobes or segments. Petals 5 or none. Stamens 

 commonly monadelphous, with 5, 10, or 15 2-celled anthers. Fruit- 

 carpels either distinct or united into a loculicidaUy dehiscent capsule. 

 Seeds with or without albumen.— Gen. PI. i. 214 ; Eoyle 111. 102 ; Wight 

 lU. i. 72 (Biittneriaceee). 



Flowers unisexual or polygamous ; petals none ; fruit of 5 dis- 

 tinct or nearly distinct carpels . . . . _ . 1- Stbeculia. 

 Flowers bisexual ; petals 6 ; anther-cells divaricate ; fruit- 

 carpels distinct, or spirally-twisted . . . . 2. Helioteees. 

 Flowers bisexual, with an involucel of 3-5 caducous bracts ; 

 petals 5 ; anther-cells parallel ; fruit a capsule dehiscing 

 loculicidaUy. 

 Staminal column divided into 20 filaments, 5 without 



anthers ; capsule 5-valved . . . . _ . . 3. PlEROSPEEMUM. 

 Staminal column composed of numerous multiseriate fila- 

 ments, all bearing anthers ; capsule 5-10-valved . 5. Ebiol^na. 



1. STERCULIA, Linn. 



Trees, with entire, lobed, or digitate leaves. Flowers unisexual or 

 polygamous. Calyx more or less deeply 5-cleft, rarely 4-cleft, usually 

 coloured. Petals none. Carpels 5, distinct or nearly so, with two or 

 more ovules in each, stalked on a long gynophore, adnate to which is th 

 staminal column, bearing at the top 10 or 15 anthers. Fruit-carpels dis- 

 tinct, spreading, coriaceous or woody, dehiscent along the inner edge, or 

 thin, foliaceous, opening long before maturity. Seeds one or more in each 

 carpel ; albumen adhering to the cotyledons, often splitting in two ; coty- 

 ledons flat and thin. 



Fruit-carpels coriaceous, opening at maturity. 



Leaves deeply 5-7-lobed, lobes toothed or cleft ; flower panicles ^ 



drooping ; carpels villose, with rust-coloured tomentum . 1. S, mllosa. 

 Leaves shallowly 5-lobed, lobes entire; flower panicles pyra- 

 midal, erect ; carpels covered with sharp bristles . . 2. 8. wrens. 

 Fruit-carpels membranous, opening long before maturity . . S. S. colorata. 



1. S. villosa, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 153.— Tab. X.— W. & A. Piodr. 63. 

 — ^Vem. Crulkandar, massu, osha, gudgudala, Pb. ; Udial, Kamaon ; 

 Uddr, udalla, Oudh. 



A tree, with grey or brown bark ; leaves on long petioles, crowded at 

 the end of branches, tomentose beneath, nearly glabrous above, deeply 5- 

 7 -lobed ; lobes oblong or ovate-oblong, toothed or cleft. Stipules broad- 

 lanceolate, deciduous. Flowers yellow, on slender pedicels, as long or 

 nearly as long as the calyx, loosely arranged in long drooping panicles, 

 5-8 panicles at the end of the leafless branch ; bracts linear, caducous ; 

 male and bisexual flowers mixed, the former by far the most numerous. 

 Calyx campanulate, membranous, border yellow, bottom of the calyx pink, 



