942 LXXI. EPACEIDE^. [Sprengelia. 



somewhat flattened. Anthers linear or linear- lanceolate j adnate to below the 

 middle, glabrous, connivent round the style, but ■ not cohering. Style rather 

 thick. ^ — Ponceletia sprengelioides, E. Br. Prod. 564; DC. Prod. vii. 767. 

 Hab.: Islands of Moreton Bay. 



12. DRACOPHYLLUM, Labill. 



(Leaves resembling a Dracmna.) 

 (Sphenotoma, sect. R. Br., gen. Don.) 



Corolla-tube cylindrical, oblong or almost campanulate; lobes 5, spreading, 

 imbricate in the bud. Stamens hypogynous or the filaments more or less adnate 

 to the corolla-tube ; anthers included in the tube, attached at or above the 

 middle, entire or 2-lobed. Hypogynous disk of 5 distinct scales. Ovary 5- 

 celled, with several ovules in each, cell, attached to a placenta suspended from an 

 erect or recurved stipes proceeding from the axis. Style inserted in a shallow at 

 deep and tubular depression of the ovary ; stigma small or larger and shortly 

 5-lobed. — Shrubs or small trees, having then a monocotyledonous aspect. Leaves 

 orowdedat the ends of the branches or imbricate along them, very concave above 

 the sheathing bases, which fall off with the leaf, leaving annular scars on the 

 denuded stem or branches. Flowers in terminal compound racemes or panicles 

 or simple spikes or heads. 



The genus is spread over Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and the Antarctic Islands- 

 The annular scars of the leaves and peculiar placentation distinguish it from all except Rickea 

 (a genus confined to Tasmania and Victoria), from which it differs in the expanding corolla- 

 lobes. 



1. I>. Sayeri (after W. Sayer), F. v. M. Austr. Journ. of Pharm. Mar. 

 1887. Stems much elongated, reaching the height of some 20 to 25ft. and a 

 diameter of lOin., the branches intricately spreading, often horizontal, rather 

 elastic, thus forming an almost impenetrable mass. Leaves crowded at and near 

 the upper end of the branchlets, attaining a length ^of IJft. and fin. in width in 

 the lower part, broadly linear, gradually attenuated upwards and much narrowed 

 towards the apex, clasping at the base through longitudinal incurvature, some- 

 what concave, smooth also along the margin, the floral leaves abbreviated, early 

 deciduous. Panicle terminal, short-stalked, attaining Sin. in length and seldom 

 more than l^in. in width. Bracts | to Sin. long, white, shaded with 

 deep-rose, narrow, fugacious, attenuated towards both ends; peduncles and 

 pedicels shortly-downy, the latter conspicuous, and scattered or somewhat 

 fascicled. Flowers very numerous, occasionally tetramerous: Sepals lanceolate- 

 ovate, acute, glabrous. Corolla about 4 lines long or 3 or 4 times as long as 

 the calyx, quite white or rosy, divided to near the middle into almost semi- 

 lanceolate bluntish lobes. Stamens emerging, inserted near the summit of the 

 corolla- tube ; filaments broadish, hardly longer than the anthers. Style of a 

 much less length than the corolla ; hypogynous disk shortly divided into 

 semi-orbicular somewhat truncate lobes. Fruit as long as the calyx or slightly 

 longer, broader than long, depressed; placentas conspicuously stalked, deeply 

 pendent. Seed almost oblique-ovate, testa subtle-reticulate. — F. v. M. I.e., and 

 Bail. 3rd Suppl. Syn. Ql. Fl. 45. 



Hab.: Mountains of the Bellenden Ker Eange, W. Sayer and A. Davidson (1887), A.Meston's 

 Expedition (188d). . ,., , ,. ,. ., ,, , 



There are probably 2 varieties of this species, which may be distinguished by the flowers of 

 the one having a white tube and horizontal rose-coloured lobes, which seem to become somewhat 

 erect in decay. Of the other, the flowers are all white, and the corolla-lobes are closely reflexed, 

 and remain so in decay. I found this distinction on all the plants examined, even when 

 growing beside each other. — Bail. I.e. 



Wood close-grained, dark and prettily marked.-^iiaiJ«j/'s Gat. Ql. Woods No. 259c. 



