HERNANDIA. PELT AT A. (Nat. order Laurineae ; Sub order Hernandieee.) 



A 



-I 



HeRNANDIA, Linn.— Flowers monoecious. Perianth-segments in two rows, valvate in each row in the bud, 3 or 4 in each row in the 

 males and i or 5 in the females. Male flower. Stamens as many as the outer perianth-segments and opposite to them, with a gland on each side at the 

 base (or on one side only or none) ; anthers 2-celled, introrse, the valves separating laterally from the inner to the outer edge. Female flower inserted in 

 a cup-shaped or lobed involucel. Glands or staminodia as many as outer perianth-segments and opposite to them. Ovary inferior, fle3hy ; style short, 

 thick, with a dilated irregularly toothed or lobed stigma. Fruit somewhat fleshy or coriaceous, indehiscent, enclosed in the enlarged fleshy or thickly 

 membranous involucel. Seed globular ; testa thick and hard without albumen. Embryo with thick fleshy deeply-lobed cotyledons. Trees, leaves 

 alternate, peltate or palmately nerved. Flowers in loose panicles on lateral peduncles at the ends of the branches, each branch of the panicle terminating 

 in an involucre of 4 or 5 verticellate bracts enclosing 3 flowers, the central one female, sessile within the cup-shaped involucel, the 2 lateral one3 males and 

 pedicellate. 



HERNANDIA PELTATA. (DC.) A large tree with a spreading head, glabrous or the inflorescence very slightly hoary- 

 tomentose. Leaves on long petioles, broadly ovate, acuminate, peltately attached near the base, 5 to 9-nerved and remotely penniveined, 

 the larger ones nearly 1 foot long, the upper ones much smaller. Panicles shorter than the leaves, the flowers almost clustered on the 

 branches, one terminal female between two males within a whorl of 4 bracts, and sometimes one or two males lower down with a small 

 bract under each pedicel. Male perianth slightly pubescent, the segments 3 in each row, almost petal-like, veined, about 2 lines long. 

 Stamens 3, shorter than the segments with short filaments. Female flowers with a cup-shaped entire truncate involucel a little below 

 the ovary and 1| lines long at the time of flowering, but soon enlarged and growing over the ovary or perianth-tube. Perianth-tube from 

 the first completely adnate to the fleshy ovary, segments 4 in each row, the outer ones ovate 2 lines long, the inner ones narrow. 

 Glands 4, large and nearly globular. Style villous, thickened upwards, with a dilated oblique irregularly lobed glabrous stigma, the 

 •whole style deciduous with the perianth-lobes. Fruit completely enclosed in the involucel which has become inflated globular smooth 

 and fleshy, above 1 J inches diameter, with a circular entire orifice of about J inch diameter. Fruit about 1 inch diameter, more or less 

 distinctly marked with 8 broad raised longitudinal ribs, with a raised terminal umbo. Seed very hard, about f inch diameter. 

 Embryo divided into 4 or 5 thick fleshy ruminate lobes. Seem. Fl. Jit. 205, t. 32 ; — Benth, Fl. Aust. v. p. 314, 



This tree is common on the sea coast in Ceylon between Galle and Colombo, but 1 am not a/ware that it has been delected in the Penin- 

 sula ; it also occurs in Australia, and extends over the sea coasts in the South-Pacific and Eastern Archipelago westward to the Mascarene islands, 

 and northward to the Philippines and Loo Choo. The wood is very light and takes fire so readily from a flint and steel that it might be used as 

 tinder. The juice is a powerful depilatory, removing the hair xoithout any pain ; the bark, seed and young leaves are cathartic ; the tree is called 

 Palaiee in Ceylon. 



1. 



2. 

 3. 



4. 

 5. 

 6. 



7. 

 8. 



Analysis. 



Portion of the inflorescence. 



A male flower, calyx 6 parted, stamens 3 each with 2 glands at the base. 



Views o£ the stamens. 



Pollen. 



A female flower, calyx 8-parted, glands 4 inserted in the jaws of the calyx; 



Stigma. 



Vertical section of female flower and ovary shewing the single cell and the pendulous ovule. 



Sections of the drupe shewing the large fleshy cotyledons and small superior radiclei (All communicated by Dr. Thwaites.) 



300 



