Parsonsia.] LXXIX. APOCYNACE^. 993 



winged gynostegia of some Asclepiadea. Hypogynous scales united in an undulate 

 plicate cup as long as the ovary. Ovary 2-celled. Fruit 4in. long, 5 lines broad, 

 tapering at both ends. Seeds rather thin, 5 lines long, pitted. Coma brown, 

 hairs about 8 lines long. 

 Hab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, W. Hill, F. v. Mueller. In flower October to February. 



12. WRIGHTIA, R. Br. 



(After William Wright, M.D.). 

 (Balfouria, E. Br.) 



Calyx with 5 to 10 broad scales inside at the base. Corolla-tube cylindrical, 

 usually short ; lobes spreading, contorted in the bud, the throat with a corona of 

 5- or 10 erect scales, either distinct or united in a ring. Stamens inserted in the 

 throat ; filaments very short and broad ; anthers sagittate, exserted, united or 

 connivent in a cone round the stigma. No hypogynous disk or scales. Ovary of 

 2 carpels, distinct or connate, but readily separable ; ovules numerous. Fruit 

 long, terete, at length separating into 2 follicles. Seeds oblong, with a tuft of 

 hairs at the end furthest from the hilum. — Trees or shrubs, the branches often 

 slender but not twining. Leaves opposite. Flowers in terminal corymbose 

 oymes, appearing sometimes axillary after the development of one branch only of 

 the fork. Bracts small. 



A small genus, dispersed over tropical Asia. The Queensland species are endemic. 



Shrub or small tree. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 4 to 6in. long. Flowers 

 yellow. Fruit hard, nearly terete, 6 to Sin. long 1. W. saligna. 



Tree, about 80ft. high. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 4in. long, 

 IJin. broad. Flowers pale-yellow. Fruit lOin. long, rough with tubercles 2. W. millgar. 



Habit not recorded. Leaves suboordate to lanceolate-ovate, coriaceous, 4 to 

 Sin. long, 2in. broad. Flowers red. Fruit unknown i. W. Baceelliana. 



1. "W. saligna (Willow-like), F. v. M. Herb.; Benth. Fl. Austr. iv. 816. 

 Milkbush. A tall shrub or small tree, quite glabrous. Leaves linear or linear- 

 lanceolate, acutely acuminate, contracted into a short petiole, almost veinless 

 except the midrib, 3 to 5in. long. Flowers yellow, in short cymes either terminal 

 or apparently axillary from the development of a side branch. Calyx-segmerits 

 nearly orbicular, f line diameter, with 1 or 2 broad scales at the base of each 

 more than half as long as the calyx. Corolla-tube broad, not twice as long as 

 the calyx, contracted at the throat ; lobes narrow, fully twice as long as the tube, 

 the left-hand edges overlapping in the bud ; corona- scales united in a truncate 

 or sinuate-toothed ring round the anthers. Anthers in a cone of about 2 lines. 

 Carpels of the ovary coherent but separable. Stigma dilated at the base, 2-lobed. 

 Fruit hard, acuminate, nearly terete, 6 to Sin. long, the follicles not separating 

 till maturity. — Balfouria saligna, E. Br. Prod. 467 ; Endl. loonogr. t. 75 ; A. 

 DC. Prod. viii. 403. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown; Port Denison, Fitzalan, Dallachy ; 

 Elliott and Suttor Biver, Bowman ; other tropical inland localities. 



Wood of a uniform pale-yellow colour, the grain close ; might be useful for cabinet-work, 

 carving and engraving ; thought to resemble English Elder. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods No. 284a. 



2. W. millgar (native name). Bail. Bot. Bull. vii. " Millgar," Cairns, E. 

 Cowley. A tree about 80ft. high, glabrous except the inflorescence, with a 

 smooth thin grey bark, thickly dotted with raised lenticels, exuding a quantity 

 of milky sap which inspissates into a ^substance resembling gutta-percha. 

 Branchlets opposite. Leaves on petioles of from J to ^in. long, ovate to ovate- 

 lanceolate, with a more or less acuminate point, 2 to 4in. long, IJ to IJin. broad, 

 venation prominent, the primary veins distant and looping near the margin. 

 Flowers pedicellate, of a pale-yellow colour, in terminal puberulent cymes, 

 shorter than the leaves. Calyx-teeth short and rather blunt. Corolla-tube 



