95 



(1) S. Kleinii. {W.andA.) 



Ident. Wight et Am. in Ed. Phil. Journ. 14. p. 299.— Dec. 

 prod. XV. s. 1. p. 265. 



Engrav. Wight's Icon. t. 1854. 



Spec. Chae. Leaves oblong-elliptic : spikes pubescent. 



Malabar. Courtallum. Travancore. 



ORDER CXXXVIII. BEGONIACEiE. 



Flowers unisexual, monoecious. Males : sepals 2, oppo- 

 site, valvate in sestivation : petals usually 2, alternate to the 

 sepals, complicate in aestivation, sometimes none, or 3 — 7 : 

 stamens many, inserted on a more or less convex torus, free, 

 or variously monadelphous : filaments extended above into the 

 connectivum, cells 2, adnate to the connectivum, dehiscing 

 lengthwise : pistil none. Females : lobes usually 2 — 5, 

 sometimes 6 — 8, when twin valvate in sestivation, opposite, 

 when 3 or 4, inner 1 — 2 smaller, when 5 sestivation quincun- 

 cial, outer lobes then usually larger, when 6 — 8 imbricately 

 arranged: styles usually 3, sometimes 2 or 4 — 5, more or 

 less connate at the base : ovary inferior : ovules very numer- 

 ous, anatropal : capsules usually 3-celled, the external mem- 

 brane easily distinct from the ovary, wings when present 

 springing from the external membrane, one wing usually 

 larger than the re^t, in 2-celled capsules alternating with the 

 cells : dehiscence loculicidal, fissures at the back of the 

 wings, or by clefts near the wings : seeds small, obovate, 

 ellipsoid or subcylindric : albumen none : embryo ellipsoid or 

 obovate, very obtuse at the hilum, the other extremity very 

 shortly 2-lobed into 2 cotyledons. — Herbs or undershrubs, 

 sometimes shrubs or small trees : leaves distichous or very 

 rarely subverticillate,stipulate,petioled, unequal-sided, usually 

 denticulate, teeth often bearing bristles, sometimes variously 

 lobed, even many-cleft or partite, never composite, hairs 

 simple, rarely stellate, scattered on the upper surface, on the 



