0tlL URTICAOE^. I46t 



2. TREMA, Lour. 

 (Eeferring to the impressions on tlie hard inner part of fruit.) 

 (Sponia, Commers.) 

 Flowers polygamous, in small axillary cymes. Male perianth of 5, rarely 

 ■i segments, induplioate-valvate in the bud. Stamens as many as perianth- 

 segments, erect in the bud ; filaments very short. Ovary rudimentary or more 

 or less developed. Female perianth-segments nearly flat and slightly imbricate 

 when entirely without stamens, more or less concave and induplicate in the 

 hermaphrodite flowers. Style deeply divided to the base into 2 linear rather 

 thick branches (or styles), hirsute along the inner stigmatic surface, and not 

 exceeding the length of the ovary. Ovule pendulous, laterally attached near the 

 top. Fruit a very small drupe, usually crowned by the persistent involute styles, 

 with a slightly succulent exocarp, and a bony endocarp often pitted outside. 

 Seed pendulous, with a thin testa and fleshy albumen. Embryo linear, curved, 

 with a superior radicle. — Trees or tall shrubs. Leaves alternate, more or less 

 distichous and often oblique, denticulate, 8-nerv6d and penniveined, the principal 

 primary veins starting usually from both sides of the midrib and from the outer 

 side only of the lateral veins. Flowers and fruits small, the cymes or even the 

 whole specimens often unisexual. •, 



The genus is widely spread over the tropical and subtropical regions of the New and the Old 

 World. 



Leaves green and sdabrous on both sides, sprinkled, with scattered hairs 



or nearly glabrous 1. T. aspera. 



Leaves green and glabrous above, and smooth or scabrous, white or hoary 



tomentose underneath 2. T. qrientalis. 



Leaves softly pubescent above, densely velvety-pUbescent or hirsute 

 underneath 3. T. amboinensis. 



1. T. aspera (rough), Bliime, Mus. Bot. ii. 58; Biiitli. Fl. Austr. vi. 158. 

 Peach-leaved Poison-bush. " Dinjin," Taromeo, Shirley. A slender tree, of 15 to 

 25ft. or a shrub of 8 to 10ft., the branches more or less pubescent with short 

 rigid appressed or scarcely spreading hairs. Leaves shortly petiolate, obUqtiely 

 ovate ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, regularly serrate-crehate, 

 rounded or slightly cordate at the base, 3-nerved and obliquely penniveined, 

 membranous, sometimes rather rigid, green on both sides or pale underneath, 

 scabrous, usually more or less hirsute on the principal veins underneath an& often 

 sprinkled on both sides with short scattered hairs. Flowers small, in short 

 cymes sessile or shortly pedunculate in the axils, sometimes all males but more 

 frequently a few or several female or hermaphrodite ones in the same cymes. 

 Male perianth scarcely 1 line diameter when open and the female smaller. 

 Styles varying from half the length to the length of the ovary. Drupes black, ovoid, 

 scarcely compressed, obtuse or rather acute, varying from under l^ lines to nearly 

 2 lines in length. — Celtis aspera, Brongn. in Duperr. Voy. Coq. 213, t. 48 ; 

 Sponia aspera. Planch, in Ann. So. Nat. ser, 3, x. 818. 



Hab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, IF. Hill, F. v. Mueller, and others ; and thence to 

 Bockhampton, Rockingham and Wide Bays, and Burdekin River, F. v. Mueller, Bidwill, 

 Thoset and others ; Northumberland Islands, U. Brown. 



Wood of a whitish colour, soft and light. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods, No. 385. 



Leaves sometimes infested with the blight-fungi, Asterina pelliculosa, Berk., Asteromella 

 epitrema, Cke., and Dimerosporium parvulmn, Cke. 



Var. viridis. Leaves larger and less hairy, but no other difference. Sjwnio viridis, Planch, 

 in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, x. 319; Trema viridis, Blume Mus. Bot. ii. 58.— Rockingham Bay, 

 Dallachtj. This variety is referred by Planchon (DC. Prod. xvii. ined.) to the widely-spread 

 T. virgata, Blume {Celtis virgata, Roxb., Sponia virgata, Planch.), from which is is certainly 

 not easily distinguished. Brongniart's name has, however, the right of priority. 



