Fitiosfiorum..] cappabide^. 



19 



1. PITTOSPOBTTM, Linn. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, their claws erect and sometimes united. Ovaiy with 

 2 or rarely 3 or 5 cells or placentas, with 8 or more ovules to each. Stigma 

 scarcely lobed. Capsule opening in thick valves bearing the placentas in their 

 centre. Seeds covered with a resinous viscid pulp. — Trees or shrubs, mostly 

 evergreen. 



The most considerable genus of the Order, spreading over the whole extent ot its area. 



1- P« glabratum, imi^^. w JbM/jj.lTor^. &)c. i. 230. A perfectly glabrous 

 shrub. Leaves evergreen, obovate or oblong, mostly acuminate, 2 to 4 in. 

 long, the upper ones crowded together so as to appear whorled. Mowers ter- 

 minal, solitary or clustered in little terminal almost sessUe corymbs, much shorter 

 than the leaves. Sepals 1 to li lines long. Petals 3 lines long, the claws 

 overlapping each other, forming a cylindrical tube, the laminae spreading. 

 Capsule ovoid-oblong, attaining 1 in. in length, 



Common in the island, Champion and others. Extends on the adjacent continent from 

 Khasia to Amoy. 



Okder XI. BIXACE.ffi. 



Sepals 2 to 6, usually 4 or 5, imbricate or rarely almost valvate in the bud. 

 Petals as many or more, or more frequently none. Stamens usually indefinite, 

 hypogynoils, rarely equal in number to the petals, and alternate with them. 

 Ovaty 1-celled, or incompletely divided into several cells by irregular parti- 

 tions. Placentas 2 to 12, parietal, with several or many ovules to each. 

 Styles or sessile stigmas as many as placentas, free or combined into a single 

 one. Fruit an indehiscent berry or a pod, opening in as many valves as pla- 

 centas. Seeds albuminous, with the embryo in the axis. — Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves undivided, usually toothed. Stipules minute, or none. Mowers ax- 

 illary or lateral, rarely terminal, often unisexual. 



A considerable family, spread over the tropical or subtropical regions of both the New and 

 the Old World. 



1. SCOIiOPIA, Schreb. 

 (Phoberos, Lour.) 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Sepals 4 to 6, valvate. Petals as many, imbri- 

 cate. Stamens indefinite, hypogynous. Anthers oblong, with a glabrous or 

 hairy tenninal appendage. Ovary 1-celled. Placentas 3 or 4. Ovules few. 

 Style filiform. Fruit a berry. 



A small genus, confined to southern and eastern Asia and the Archipelago. 



1. S. chinensis, Clos in Ann,. So. Nat. Par. ser. 4, viii. 249. A glabrous 

 tree or shrub, sometimes armed with stout spines (abortive branches), some- 

 times quite unai-med. Leaves ovate or oblong, very obtuse or obtusely acu- 

 minate, entire or with a few minute teeth, li to 2 in. long. Flowers small, in 

 axillary racemes, shorter than the leaves. — Phoberos chinensis, Lour. ; W. and 

 Arn. Prod. i. 30. Phoheros savus, Hance in Walp. Ann. iii. 825. 



Very common in the island, as well as on the adjacent Chinese continent, but not known 



from elsewhere. 



C 2 



