91 



GENUS II. SPH^EOCAETA. 



Pentandria Monogynia. Sex i Syst : 



Deriv. From Sphai/ra, a globe, and Karyon, a nut, alluding to 

 tlie seed. 



Gen. Chae. Calyx 5-parted: petals 5, minute, alternating 

 with the stamens : scales 5, minute, fimbriated, inserted between 

 the stamens and petals : ovary without a disc :, style undivided : 

 drupe inferior, smooth, globose, without a suture. 



(1) S. liEPEOSA. (Dalz.) 



Ident. Dalz. Bomb. flor. p. 223.— Hook. Journ. Bot. III. 

 p. 34.— Dec. prod. XIV. p. 629. 



Spec. Chab. Tree : leaves oblong, coriaceous, glabrous, rounded 

 at the base, acute at the apex : flowers subsessile, clustered on a 

 scaly axillary tubercle : calyx with 5 very short orbicular divisions : 

 petals linear-acute : filaments adnate to the petals : fruit spherical, 

 covered with scurfy scales. 



Warree country, in the Concan. Flowering in the cold 

 season. 



GENUS III. OSTEIS. 



Dicecia Triandria. Seat : Syst : 



Deriv. From Ozos, a branch, in allusion to the numerous pliant 

 branches. 



Gen. Chae. Flowers dioecious or hermaphrodite : calyx slender 

 in the male 'flowers, obconical in the others, deeply 3 — 4-lobed, 

 lobes ovate-acute, one in the trimerous flowers opposite the bract, 

 all in the tetramerous ones lateral towards the axis and bract, 

 hairs in the middle few or none, distinct from the anther : stamens 

 3 — 4 : filament short : anther 2-ceUed : disc concave, lobes round, 

 clothing the upper and entire portion of the calyx : ovary fleshy, 

 inferior : style short : stigmas 8 — 4 : ovules usually 3, sometimes 

 2 — 4 : drupe ovoid-globose, crowned with the remains of the lobes 

 and disc : seed filBng the drupe : albumen copious : embryo 

 oblique : radicle superior : cotyledons lanceolate-terete, half-in- 

 curved, longer than the radicle. — Trees or shrubs : branches 

 angled : leaves alternate or seldom opposite, flat, mucronate : male 

 flowers heaped together at the apex of the peduncle, females soli- 

 tary or few : bracts and bracteoles caducous. 



(1) O. "WlGHTIANA. {Wall.) 

 Ident. Dec. prod. XIV. p. 638. 

 Engrav. Wight's Icon, t. 1853. 



