XCII. EHIZOPHOEE^. 419 



petiolar, very caducous. Tlowebs ^ , in axillary cymes, racemes, panicles or spikes. 

 Caltx-tube more or less adnate to the ovary, rarely free; limb 3-14-lobed or entire, 

 persistent, lobes valvate. Petals as many as the calyx-lobes, usually small, concave 

 or involute, and embracing the stamens, notched, 2 -fid or lacerate, rarely entire, 

 convolute or inflexed in bud. Stamens 2-3-4 times as many as the petals, rarely 

 equal in number, often inserted in pairs opposite the petals, on the edge or at the 

 base of a perigynous disk ; filaments long or short ; anthers basi- or dorsi-fixed, 

 2-eelled or multi-locellate. Ovary usually inferior, 2-5- (rarely 3-6-) celled, or 1- celled 

 by the suppression of the septa; style simple (several in Anisophyllea) ; stigma simple 

 or lobed ; ovules usually 2, collaterally suspended to the inner angle of each cell 

 above it^ middle, rarely 4 or more, pendulous, anatropous, raphe ventral. Feuit 

 usually coriaceous, crowned with the calyx-limb, indehiscent or rarely septicidal, 

 1-celled and 1-seeded, or 2-6-celled with 1-seeded cells. Seeds pendulous, arillate 

 or not, testa coriaceous or membranous, albumen fleshy or 0. EmBETO inverted in 

 the albuminous seeds, usually small and axile, with terete radicle and semi-terete 

 cotyledons ; in the exalbuminous seed the embryo is usually elongate, with small or 

 inconspicuous often connate cotyledons. 



Tkibe I. Rhizophoeej!. — Ovary inferior ; style 1. Embryo exalbumiiious, radicle very 

 large, protruded frora the fruit wlien still on tlie tree. Leaves opposite, glabrous, quite entire, 

 stipulate. EMzophora, Geriops, Kandelia, Bruguiera. 



Teibe II. Cassipouebj!. — Ovary inferior, semi- inferior, or superior; style 1. Embryo in 

 the axis of a fleshy albumen. Leaves opposite, usually glabrous and quite entire, stipulate. 

 Garallia, Gynotroches, Weihea, Gassipourea, &o. 



Tribe m. ANiSOPHTLLEiE. — O vary inferior ; styles 3-5. Embryo exalbuminous. Leaves 

 alternate. Anisophyllea, Gomhretocarpus. 



MMzopJioyiee are nearly allied to Myrtacees in habit, opposite sometimes pellucid dotted leaves, and 

 , in the exalbuminous seeds of the tribe Mhkophorecs ; but they differ in their valvate calyx-lobes, stipules, and 

 usually definite stamens. The same characters distinguish them from Melastomacece. Lythrariece, which 

 agree with them in the valvate calyx and usually definite stamens, have many ovules and large usually 

 crumpled petals. CombretacecB, which are still more closely allied, differ in their monocarpellary ovary, 

 folded or convolute cotyledons, and exstipulate leaves. 



This order is almost wholly tropical, and to a great extent littoral; the species of the tnhe RMzopJio- 

 reee forming, with Amcennia (see Ferbenacece), the Mangrove forests of tidal rivers in both the Old and 

 New Worlds. Most of these root from the branches into the mud below, and thus form dense thickets, 

 the roots becoming stems after a time. The tribe Cassipourecs is, with the exception of Cassipowea itself, 

 confined to the Old "World. Atiisophyllea is remarkable for its distichous alternate leaves, of which every 

 second one is reduced to a minute stipuliform body. 



Of the properties of HhizophorecB little is known. The wood of several is hard and durable ; the 

 bark of Bruguia'a yields a black dye ; and the fruit of JRhizophora Mangle is described as edible, and when 

 fermented produces a light wine, drunk by the natives of the Indian Peninsula. — Eb.] 



EE 2 



