444 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



anomalous Melastomacece ; ^ Olinia,^ -which, we have made a series of 

 Bhamnacece,^ and Eeteropyxis,'^ quite unknown to us. We have, 

 moreover, enumerated Sonneratia among the Myrtacece, and Strepho- 

 nema among the doubtful Bosacece.^ By considering Hydrolythrum 

 as simply a section of the genus BhyacopMla, and including Peplis 

 and Didiplis in the genus Ammannia,^ we have reduced the number 



' Notwithstanding tlieir alternate leaves, be- 

 cause, as we shall see, the stamens are funda- 

 mentally constructed like those of this group. 



^ Thune. £cem. Arch. ii. p. i. 6 ; Fl. Cap. 194. 

 —DC. Prodr. ii. 41.— Ekdl. Gen. u. 6272.— B. 

 H. Gen. 785, n. 29. — Crematostemon hort. (ex 

 Endl.). This genus has been placed in different 

 families, particularly in the series of Melastoma- 

 cece, of I/ythrariacecB, and it has also been con- 

 sidered (AitNOTT, — Naudin) as the type of quite 

 a distinct family. 



i> Butt. Soc. Linn. Par. (1876) 90. We have 

 seen in tracing the development of the flowers 

 of this genus (fig. 425, 426), that they have a 

 hollow tubular receptacle, to the bottom of 



Olinia cymosa. 



Fig. 425. Flower (}). 



which the ovary is adnate, and at the upper 

 orifice of which are inserted four or five coloured 

 sepals, as many small alternate petals, super- 

 posed to which are an equal number of stamens, 

 ■with short bilocularintrorse anthers, surmounted 

 by a glandular connective. The cells of the 

 inferior ovary, 3-5 in number, contain each 2 or 

 3 ascending ovules with micropyle exterior and 

 inferior. Decaisnb (Tr. Gen. Botan. 292) has 

 described and figured the ovules as pendant, a 

 grave error. The fruit is drupaceous, and the 

 putamen encloses a seed with exalbuminous 

 embryo, and the cotyledons are said to be un- 

 equally convolute. It is by this character 

 especially that the OlinietB are distinguished as 

 a tribe or series in the family of Shamnacea, 



where we propose to place them. The short 

 collarette, entire or obscurely lobed, found 

 outside the perianth and often described as 

 a calyx, is only a discoid prolongation of 

 the receptacular tube, the formation of which 

 is tardy. Olinia consists of Cape shrubs, with 

 opposite coriaceous leaves, and flowers col- 

 lected in trichotomous cymes. There is pro- 

 bably only one species, 0. cymosa Thunb. — 

 Hakv. and Sond. Fl. Oap. ii. 520.— 0. capensis 



Fig. 426. Long. sect, of flower (f). 



Link, Kl. et Ott. le. PI. Ear. i. 6, t. 3.— 0. acu- 

 minata Link; Kl. et Ott. he. cit. 53, t. 21. — 

 Syderoxylon cymosum L. p. Suppl. 152. — Crema- 

 tostemon capense hort. 



■* Habv. Thes. Cap. ii. 18, t. 128.— B. H. Gen. 

 785, n. 30. This genus, placed among the ano- 

 malous Lythrariece, with inferior ovary, is espe- 

 cially characterized hy an imbricate calyx, with 

 five lohes, petals with glandular punctuations, 

 oppositipetalous stamens and alternate leaves. 

 Its fruit is capsular ; the ovarian cells multi- 

 ovulate. This plant, figured by Harvey with 

 poorly developed stamens and an imperfect 

 ovary, is quite unknown to us. 



* See vol. i. 424, 479. 



« Bull. Soc. Linn. Par. (1876) 87. 



