.] • V. MENISPERMACE^. (Hook. f. & Thoms.) 107 



Malacca, Griffith. — Distrib. Java. 



Brandies rigid, flexuous, smooth ; young pubescent. Leaves 3i-4by ;I4-1| in-i ^'''^•^ 

 coriaceous, base rounded, conooloroua, shining above, paler beneath with reticulate veins ;. 

 petiole fin. Peduncles of male numerous, J-f in., slender, glabrous. J''Zow;e7-« minute. 

 Drupes tomentose. — A very anomalous genus. 



Order VT. BERBERIDE.a:. (By Hooker f. & Thomson.) 



Usually shrubby, sometimes climbing, glabrous plants. Leaves simple or 

 compound, with articulate segments ; buds scaly. Stipules very rare (Ber- 

 leris). Flowers often globose, regular, solitary or in simple or compound 

 racemes, usually yellow or white. Sepals a,u6. petals free; hypogynous, very 

 caducous, 2-many-seriate,in 3- rarely 4-6-nary whorls, imbricate, or the sepals; 

 rarely valvate. Stamens 4-6 (rarely 8) opposite the petals, free or connate ; 

 anthers adnate, erect, dehiscing by lateral or dorsal slits, or by 2 revolute or 

 ascending lids or valves. Carpds 1-3, rarely more, oblong ; style short or 0, 

 stigma dilated or conic or oblong ; ovules usually indefinite on the ventral 

 suture or covering the walls of the ovary, anatropous rarely ortbotropous. 

 ki/pe carpels dry or fleshy, dehiscent or not. Seeds with a crustaceous fleshy 

 or Dony testa ; albumen copious, dense ; embryo minute or long, straight or 

 curved, radicle next the hilum. — Disteib. Genera about 20, with 200 species,, 

 chiefly temperate and mountain plants. 



Tribe I. Iiardlzabaleae. Stem usually climbing. Flowers unisexual or 

 polygamous. Carpels 3. Seeds usually large, testa bony. 



An erect shrub. Leaves pinnate 1. Decaishea. 



Climbing shrubs. Leaves digitate. Stamens monadelphous . . 2. Pakvatia. 

 Stamens free 3. Holbcellia. 



Tribe II. Berbereae. Stem or erect. Flowers hermaphrodite. Carpel 

 1. Seeds usually small. 



Ovules erect, basal. Shrubs. Fruit berried 4. Bebbeeis. 



Ovules superposed along the ventral suture. 



Leaves decompound. Ovules few. -5. Epimedium; 



Leaves simple, palmate. Ovules many 6. Podophylldm. 



1. DECAXSKEA, H. f . & T. 



An erect shrub. Leaves unequally pinnate, petioled jointedat base. Flowers 

 racemose, monoecious. Sepals 6, narrow, taper-pointed, subimbricate in 2 

 rows. Fetals 0. Male fl. : Stamens 6, monadelphous-; anthers oblong, con- 

 nective subulate. Fbm. fl.: Staminodes 6, small, free. Ovaries 3, sub- 

 sessile, oblong- stigma subsessile, oblong; ovules many, 2-seriate. Fruit 

 of 3 spreading fleshy many-seeded follicles. Seeds large, .compressed, testa 

 bony. 



D. insi^nis, H.f. & T.im, Proc. Linn. Soc. 1854, ii, 349 ; Fl.Ind. 213 ; 

 leaflets opposite ovate or ovate-lanceolate long acuminate. Hook. f. III. 

 Him. PI. t. 10. Slackea insignis, Griff. Itin. Not. 187. 



Forests of the Easteek Himalaya, alt. 6-10,000 ft. ; in Bhotan, Oriffith, and Sikkim, 



item naked, erect, simple, or forked. Leaves 2-3 ft., subterminal on the few short, 

 branches. Leafiets 6-8 pair, 3-5 by li-3 in., thin, glaucous beneath ; petiole \-k m. 



