338 LXI. ILICmE^. 



[The above tribes are adopted from tlie ' Genera Plantarum ' of Bentham and Hooker, in 

 vvbich work a fourtb is added, often regarded as an order, biit which is omitted in the original 

 of this book, i.e. — 



Teibe rV". Phttocrbnej!. — Mowers and fruit of Icacinece. Embryo more developed ; 

 cotyledons broad, foliaceous or thick and fleshy. — Stem climbing. Flowers dioecious. Phyto- 

 crene, Miquelia, Sarcostigma, Natsiatium, lodes. 



To this order the above authors have further appended the singular Indian and Javanese genus 

 Cardiopteris, a slender annual climbing glabrous herb with milky juice, imbricate sepals, and gamopetalous 

 five-lobed imbricate corolla. Stamens and ovary of Icacinece, but two short styles with capitate stigmas, 

 one (?) of which grows remarkably after impregnation. The one-celled superior ovary is succeeded by a 

 broadly two-winged coriaceous white fruit with a narrow central longitudinal cell containing one pen- 

 dulous seed with very minute embryo next the hilum, in a dense granular albumen. Of the two collateral 

 pendulous ovules one only is impregnated; it consists of a naked nucleus, the embryo-sac of which is 

 exserted as a very slender long tube. 



About 170 species of Olacinece are known, included in 36 genera ; they are dispersed over the tropical 

 and sub- tropical regions of the whole globe, but are rare in South Africa and Australia ; Pennantia irihahiU 

 New Zealand and extra-tropical Australia. Various species of Villaresia advance into Chili. Phytocreneee 

 are tropical Asiatic and African. 



Olacirwce are so closely allied to Santalacecs and Contacecs that it is impossible to separate tbem by any 

 natural characters ; and these, together with Loranthaceai, form one great family. Hicinece are separated 

 from Olacinece solely by the complete cells of their ovary, Villaresia being in this respect quite intermediate. 

 Cornaceee differ in their completely inferior ovary. 



Little is known of the properties of Olacinea. The drupes of Ximenia are eaten in Senegal, and said 

 to be sweet and aromatic, but rough to the palate. Olax zeylanica has a foetid wood with a saline taste, 

 and .is employed in putrid fevers; its leaves are used as salad. The stem of Phytocreneis very curious, 

 being white and very porous, and discharging when cut a stream of limpid potable water. — Ed.] 



LXI. ILICINEJE. 



(Rhamnoeum genera, /wssiieM.— Aquifoliaoe^, B.C. — Ilicine^, Brongniart.) 



COKOLLA sub-polypetalous or polypetalous, hypogynous, isostemonous, wstivation 

 imbricate. Stamews inserted at the base of the petals, or on the receptacle. Otaet of 

 many l-ovuled cells. OyvijES pendulous from the central angle of the cells. Feuit a 

 drupe. EnBETO minute, albuminous. Radicle superior. — Stem woody. 



Trees or shextbs with persistent or caducous leaves. Leaves alternate or 

 opposite, simple, coriaceous, glabrous, sMning, exstipulate. rLOWEKS 5 , or rarely 

 unisexual, small, solitary, or fascicled in the axils of the leaves, on simple peduncles, 

 sometimes branching into dichotomous cymes. Calyx 4-6-fid or -partite, persistent, 

 with obtuse segments. Coeolla inserted on the receptacle, of 5-4-3 free or nearly 

 free petals, aestivation imbricate. Stamens 6-4-3, alternating with the petals, and 

 cohering to their base, or on the receptacle ; filaments filiform or subulate, shorter 

 than the petals ; anthers introrse, dorsally adnate, dehiscence longitudinal. Ovakt 

 free, fleshy, sub-globose, 2-6-8-celled ; stigma subsessile, lobed ; ovules solitary in 

 each cell, pendulous from the top of the central angle, anatropous. Deupb fleshy, 



