PIPERACEjE. 



[Chatiica. 



males rather more than 1 in., the female shorter. Bracts P^ljat^ gj^j'';^"^ 

 Stamens 2. Stigmas usually 3. Berries nearly distmct, half-imbedaea m 



the rhachis. . ^ fn n. 



la ravines of Victoria Peak, Champion: creeping over rocks in a ravine of Mount JJavis, 

 Wilford; also Sarland. Not known oat of tlie island. 



Ordbe oil. GNETACE-ffi. 



mowers monoecious or dioecious, in spikes or heads. Male flowers 1 or 

 more ; stamens protruding from a split or 2-lobed bract (or perianth). An- 

 thers 2-celled. Female flowers a naked ovule (that is, without ovary or style), 

 enclosed in an entire, ovoid, or tubular bract (or perianth) open at the top. 

 Fruit a drupe or berry, consisting of the persistent succulent bract encasing 

 a single seed. Embryo straight, in the axis of a copious albumen.— i^ees, 

 shrubs, or undershrubs, the branches articulate at the nodes. Leaves oppo- 

 site, entire (in Bphedka small and scale-like). 



A smaU Order, dispersed over the tropical and temperate regions of the New and the Old 

 World. 



1. GNETUM. 



Flowers verticillate in articulated spikes, each whorl in a cup-shaped an- 

 nular bract. Stamen 1. — Leaves stalked, flat. Flowers small, intermixed 

 with articulated hairs. 



A smaU tropical genus common to the New and the Old World. 



1. G. scandens, Boxb. M. Ind. iii. 518. A stout climbing glabrous 

 shi-ub, the specimens usually turning black in drying. Leaves oblong or oval- 

 oblong, shortly acuminate, 4 to 6 in. long, coriaceous. Peduncles terminal or 

 axUlaiy, bearing 1 or 2 pair of opposite spikes, each about 1 or li in. 

 long when in flower ; the annular bracts very dose, each containing a large 

 number of clavate male flowers opening on one side, and a single row of minute 

 ovoid female ones. When in fruit the rhachis lengthens to several inches 

 and the bracts are distant. Drupes ovoid-oblong, | to near 1 in. long. — G. 

 funkulare, Sm.?; Wight, Ic. t. 1965. 



Hongkong, Champion, Eance, Wright. In the hilly districts of India, from the Penin- 

 sida to the Archipelago. Miquel, after Blame, describes the G. funiculare as dicecious. The 

 Hongkong specimens I have examined have certainly the female flowers intermixed with the 

 males, as described by Roxburgh. 



Order CIII. CONIPERaj. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, in cylindrical or short catkins, with closely 

 packed scales, or the females solitary. Stamens inserted either on the axis of 

 the catkin under the scales, or the anther-cells sessile on the inside of the 

 scales themselves, which then form part of the stamens. Ovules and seeds 

 naJced, that is, without ovary, style, or pericarp, either inserted under the cat- 

 kin-scales or solitary and quite exposed. Seeds albuminous. Embi'yo axUe, 

 usually with 3 or more cotyledons. — Trees or shrubs, mostly with resinous 



