214 "STyaACAOE^. Iptyr^. 



in the bud: Ovary free, 1-celled from the base at the time of flowferiiig, with 

 near 20 ovules on an axile 'placenta, the upper ones ascendingi the lower ones 

 pendulous. Fruit globular, obtuse, opening in 3 thick valves.— Cyrte anben- 

 folia, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, iii. 279. 



Rather common in the Happy Valley woods. Champion; and at Little Hongkong, Wil- 

 ford; also Wright; and on the adjacent continent, but not known out of S. China. The 

 three groups proposed by Miers, under the names of Styrax, Gyrta, and Strigilia, although 

 they cannot perhaps be so strictly limited as laid down in the work above quoted, form very 

 good sections ; but it appears to me that Styrdix, as a whole, is far too natural to be thus 

 broken up into distinct genera. The degree of adherence of the ovary, and of the persistence 

 of its dissepiments is variable in specie^ otherwise closely allied. 



OrDSr lxix. JASMINACE^. 



Calyx usually small, 4- or 5 Jobed, or rarely 6- to 8-lobed, or toothied, or 

 almost entire. Corolla 4- or 6-lobed, or rarety 6- to 8-lobed, with a long or 

 short tube, or sometimes divided to the iase into 4 petals, or rarely 2-petaled 

 or entirely wanting. Stamens %, adhering to the base of the corolla, on op- 

 posite sides of the ovary, or hypogynotts in apetalous ilowers. Ovary S-ceUfed, 

 With 2, or rarely 1 or 3 ovules in each cell, ascending or pendulous, from the 

 inner angle. JPruit succulent or Capsular, entire or ^-lobed, 2-celled, or re- 

 duced to a single ceU and seed. Seeds with or without albumfen. Embryo 

 straight. — Trees or shrubs, very rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, or very rarely 

 alternate, entire or pinnate. Ilowers in ajdUary or terminal panicles, some- 

 times reduced to dense clusters. 



A small Order, dispersed over the greater part of the warmer or temperate regions of the 

 globe. The two Suborders are sometimes considered as distinct Orders. 



Suborder 1. Oleinese. — GoroUa Globed or none-. Ovules .pendulous. Frmt entire, 

 Pniit dry, narrow, ending in a narrovf wing. Trees with pinnate leaves . 1. Fkaxinus. 

 Fruit succulent. Leaves simple, entire. 



Fruit a drupe. Panicles or cliisters ixillaiy. Corolla-lobes imbricate . 2. OiEA. 



Fruit a beny. Panicles terminal. Corojla-lobfe^ valvate 8. Ligvstroti. 



SuBOKBER 3. Jasminese. — Corolla 5- or more lohed. Ovules aieendtny. FrUit (when 

 perfect) i-loled. (Leaves in the Hongkong species compound with i ieajlets) 4. Jasminum. 



1. PBAXINXTS, Linn. 



Flowers .usually polygamous. Corolla either none, or of 3 6r 4 pet^s, 

 scarcely cohering at the base. Stigma 2-lbbed. FrUit dry, indehiscent, nai-- 

 row, ending in an oblong or linear stiff wing. Seeds 1 or 2, pendulous, with 

 a thin fleshy albumen.— Trees. Leaves pinnate, the leaflets usually toothed. 

 Flowers in axillary or terminal panicles or racemes. 



A i-atlier considei^able genus, dispersed ovetthe tettiperate regions of the northernhemi- 

 sphere, penetrating into the tropics only in mountain districts. 



1. F. retusaj, Clmnip. in Km Journ. Sot. iv. 330. A glabrous tree. 

 Leaflets usually 5, from ovate to ovate-lanceolate or oblong, acuminate, 2 to 

 3 in. long, onpetiolules of 3 to 6 lines, slightly sen-ate, and touch reticulated. 

 Panicles not so long as the leaves. Flowers numerous, white, on slender 

 pedicels 1 to 4 lines long. Calyx cup-shaped, truncate, or vei-y shortly and 

 obtusely 4t(iothed, about ^ line long. 'Petals 4, narrow-oblona- U lines 



