My.rainaceeB.'\ myrsinace*. 303 



albuminous, except in ^giceras. Trees or shrubs. leaves alternate, simple, 

 entire or toothed, without stipules. Flowers small, in axillary clusters, ra- 

 cemes, or panicles, or rarely in terminal panicles. 



A considerable Order, widely distributed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the 

 New and the Old World, and there replacing the PHmutaceie, of which it may be considered 

 as a Suborder, only differing in the woody habit and succulent fruit. 



Ovary whoUy or partially inferior . , 1. Mjssa. 



Ovary superior. 

 Petals free to the base. 



Petals and stamens usually 5. Racemes slender, forming a terminal 



panicle 2. Bmbbi;ia. 



Petals and stamens 4. Racemes or clusters short, axillary .... 3. Samaka. 

 Petals united in a short tube, with a deeply lobed limb. 

 Flowers in axillary clusters or brauching racemes. 



Flowers clustered. No scales or appendages to the coroUa between 



the lobes 4. Myesine. 



Flowers in axillary branching racemes or short panicles. Small 

 appendages or scales alternating with the corofla-lobes between 



the stamens 7. Reptonia. 



Flowers in umbels usually peduncukte, and sometimes forming panicles. 



Ovary and fruit obtuse, globular, or ovoid 5. Aedisia. 



Ovary and fruit acuminate, becoming long and curved 6. .SleicEEAS. 



1. MiESA, Porst. 



C^lyx-tube adherent, the limb 5 -lobed. Corolla 5-lobed. Stamens 5, 

 filaments slender, anthers short. Ovary inferior or half-superior. Style 

 short. Beny crowned by the calyx-lobes or teeth. — Trees or shrubs. 

 Flowers small, in simple or compound racemes, either axiUary or very rarely 

 terminal. Bracts at the base of the pedicels, and 3 bracteoles under the 

 flower, usually very small. 

 A genus limited to the tropical regions of the Old World. 



Cprolla-tuhe shorter than the veiy spreading lobes, and scarcely longer 

 than the calyx 



Plant pubescent ,. . . \. M. sinensis. 



Plant glabrous or the inflorescence scarcely pubescent. 



Berry small, nearly dry , %. M. indica. 



Berry white, suoouleht, 3 or 4 lines diameter . Z. M. montana. 



CoroUa^tube longer than its lobes, and twice as long as the calyx . . . i. M. eoriaeea. 



1, M. sinensis, DC. Prod, viii, 83. An erect shrub, the branches, the 

 veins, and sometimes the whole surface of the leaves, and the inflorescences 

 pubescent. Leaves oblong or elliptical, 3 to 4 in. long, irregularly toothed, 

 on petioles of 3 to 4 lines, rather thin, or scarcely coriaceous when old, ' Ha- 

 cemes usually branched, \ to near li in. long. Pedicels very short, seldom 

 1 line long. Calyx-lobes ovate, rather obtuse, longer than the tube. Corolla 

 with a very short tube, the lobes spreading to 3^ lines in diameter. Berry 

 the size of a grain of pepper, not very succulent. 



Common in the island. Champion and others, sJso on the adjacent coast, but not known 

 out of S. China. 



3. M. indica, A. BO. Prod. viii. 80 ; WiffJU, Ic. 1. 1306. A shrub, with 

 the foliage, flowers, and small fruits of M. sinensis, but quite glabrous, except 

 occasionally a minute pubescence thinly scattered on the racemes and calyxes. 



