952 LXXIV. MYRSINE^. [Ardisia. 



3. i\.. pachyrrhachis (thick rhachis), F. v. M. Vict. 2\at. Mar. 1891. 

 An arborescent glabrous shrub / of about 16ft. high. Leaves attaining 8in. in 

 length and l^in. in breadth, o! a fine texture, the pellucid streaks or dots 

 scarcely perceptible, elongate-latioeolate, rather blunt, the base cuneate, not 

 glossy, the veins almost concealed ; petioles short. Peduncle about iin. long, 

 bearing small deciduous leaves. Bhachis thick, -Jin. long, cicatricous. Pedicels 

 about lin. long, very thin, up to 40 in a fascicle, a.t first bent downward. Calyx 

 very small, its lobes semi-orbicular-deltoid. Corolla about 2 lines long, deeply 

 5-cleft, ttie segments about twice as long as broad, acuminate, copiously spotted 

 by purplish-black dots or short streaks, before expansion distinctly twisted. 

 Filaments extremely short, anthers pointed, somewhat cordate-sagittate, rather 

 more than half as long as the corolla, pale. Style subulate, nearly IJ line long. 

 Fruit globular, 3 to 4 lines diameter. — F: v. M. I.e. 

 Hab.: In the upper regions of Mount Bartle Frere, Stephen Johnson (F. v. M.) 



5. jEGICERAS, Gjertn. 



(Goat's-horn fruit.) 



Calyx free, 5-cleft. Corolla with 5 spreading lobes. Stamens with subulate 

 filaments ; anthers lanceolate, the cells divided transversely into several pits. 

 Ovary superior; style subulate, acute; stigma terminal, very small. Fruit 

 cylindrical, incurved, opening as the seed grows in one or two longitudinal slits. 

 Seed without albumen ; cotyledons thick and fleshy. — Maritime trees or shrubs 

 with the habit of Rhizophorm, and, as in those trees and in Mgialitis, the seed is 

 said to germinate before the fruit falls off. Flowers white, in umbels or in very 

 short umbel-like racemes, axillary or terminal. 



The genus is probably limited to a single species spread over the seaooasts of tropical Asia. 

 It has by some been separated from the Order on account of the peculiar anthers and 

 exalbuminous seeds, but the other characters are quite those of Myrsineee. — Benth. 



1. SI. majus (large), Gcertn.; A, DC. Prod. viii. 142; Benth. Fl.^ Austr. 

 iv. 277. The river Mangrove. A glabrous shrub or small tree. Leaves obovate, 

 very obtuse, 2 to Sin. long, quite entire, narrowed into a petiole at the base, 

 coriaceous and evergreen. Umbels axillary and terminal, nearly sessile. Pedicels 

 stiff, 3 to 5 lines long. Calyx nearly 3 lines long, with very obtuse, stiff much- 

 imbricate segments, closely covering the tube of the corolla, which is about their 

 length. Corolla-lobes about the same length, spreading or reflexed, stiff' and 

 very acute. Stamens shortly exserted. Ovary very acute, growing out into a 

 curved horn-like fruit. — Wight, Illustr. t. 146; yE. fragrans, Keen. E. Br. 

 Prod. 534. 



Hab.; Marshes on the seacoast, Shoalwater Bay, E. Brown ; from Cape York to Moreton Bay, 

 F. V. Mueller and many others ; lining the sides of the Brisbane and other rivers. 



The species extends from Ceylon and the Indian Peninsula to the Archipelago and South 

 Pacific Islands. The several species distinguished by Blume, A. Bichard, and Presl, are 

 probably not really different from the common one. — Benth. 



Wood of light colour, close-grained, and easily worked. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods, No. 261, 



Obdee LXXV. SAPOTACEjE. 



Flowers regular. Calyx free, of 4 to 8 imbricate segments. Corolla more or 

 less divided into as many or rarely twice as many lobes. Perfect stamens either 

 as many as corolla-lobes (or as the inner ones when the lobes are in several 

 series) and opposite to them, or rarely twice as many, besides which there are 

 frequently small scales (or staminodia ?) alternating with the lobes of the corolla, 

 or staminodia alternating with the perfect stamens. Ovary superior, 2 6r more 



