SapotacetB.} sapotacejs. 209 



in each ceU. Style simple, with an entire or shghtly lobed stigma. Pruit a 

 beriy or drupe, usually indehiscent. Seeds either with a fleshy albumen and 

 foliaceous cotyledons, or without albumen and with fleshy cotyledons.— Trees 

 or shrubs, with the juice frequently milky. Leaves alternate, entire, usuaUy 

 coriaceous, without stipules. Mowers axillary, solitary or clustered. 



An Order widely distributed over both the New and the Old World, within the tropics 

 or not spreading far beyond them. 



1. SIDEBOXYLON, Linn. 



Calyx and corolla 5 -lobed. Stamens 5 fertile inserted in the tube of the 

 corolla opposite its lobes, and 5 small sterUe scale-like ones altematmg vrith 

 the cofoUa-lobes. Ovary 5 -celled, or rarely 4- or 2-ceUed. Berry ovoid or 

 globular, with 1 to 3 seeds. Albumen fleshy. Embryo in the centre, almost 

 as long, with broad thin cotyledons. — Flowers small, usually white, in axillary 

 clusters. 



A considerable genus, with nearly the range of the whole Order. 



1. S. Wightianum, Hook, and Am. Bat. Beech, t. 41 ; A. DC. Prod. 

 viii. 178, not of Wall. An erect glabrous shinib. Leaves evergreen, from 

 broadly oblong or almost obovate to narrow -oblong, obtusely acuminate, 

 3 to 4 in. long, quite entire, narrowed into a rather long petiole, pale imder- 

 neath ; the pinnate veins and transverse reticulations conspicuous on both 

 sides. Pedicels about 3 lines long. Flowers small, whitish, the lobes of the 

 corolla and sterile stamens usuaUy rather broader than represented in the above 

 quoted plate. Ovary hairy. Fruit about \ in. long. 



In the Happy Valley woods. Mount Victoria, and Little Hongkong, Champion, Wilford, 

 and others : ^o on the adjacent continent, but not known beyond S. China, 



Order LXVII. EBENACE^, 



Flowers regular, usually dioecious. Calyx free, 3- to 5-lobed, or rarely 

 with 6 or 7 lobes. CoroUa-lobes as many, imbricate in the bud. Stamens 

 inserted at tbe base of the corolla or on the torus within it, indefinite, usually 

 about 15 in the male flowers, much fewer and sterile in the females; anthers 

 erect, linear or lanceolate. Ovary free, 8- or more celled, with 1 or 2 pen- 

 dulous ovules in each cell. Styles as many or half as many as cells, distinct 

 or more or less united, simple or 3-cleft, with small terminal stigmas. Fruit 

 a berry, usually indehiscent. Seeds few, with albumen ; radicle superior ; co- 

 tyledons foliaceous. — Trees or shrubs ; the juice not milky. Leaves alternate, 

 entire, without stipules. Flowers axillary, the females often solitary, the males 

 usuaUy clustered or in smaU cymes. 



A rather small Order, spread over tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa, America, and 

 southern Africa, with a very few Australian species. 



Ovary 3-ceIled 1. Eospimos. 



Ovary 4-, 8-, or more celled .' . . . ... n .... 2. Diospybos. 



1. ROSPIDIOS, A. DC. 



Characters of Diospyros, except that the ovary is 3-celled with 3 styles. — 

 Shmbs with small leaves. 



