SAECOCEPHALUS COEDATUS. (Nat. order Eubiacese.) 



SaRCOCEPHALUS. Afzel. — GEN. CHAR. Flowers densely packed in a globular head, the calyxes cohering, corol-tube slender, lobes 4-5 

 spreading imbricate in the bud, anthers nearly sessile in the mouth of the tube ; ovary 2-celled with numerous (or few) imbricate ovules in each cell 

 attached to the axis above the middle or near the apex, style much exserted, stigma entire or 2-lobed. Seed sessile connate into a dense globular apple-like 

 mass fleshy when fresh, hard when dry, but capsular at the base ; seeds numerous (or few) in each cell not winged, scrobiculate attached to the axis by 

 fleshy gland like processes, at first all pendulous, the upper ones at length erect, albumen copious. Trees, stipules large membranous very deciduous tha 

 globular flower heads solitary terminal. — Platauocarpum, Korth. Nauclea, in part Roxb. 



SARCOCEPHALUS CORDATUS. (Roxb.) A good sized tree, leaves subcoriaceous to coriaceous, softly and very finely 

 pubescent on both sides but more so beneath (pubescence more or less stellate) ovate or almost orbicular, ovato-oblong or cordate 

 obtusely rounded at the apex, cuneate or cordate at the base, entire, 412 inches long by 2§ to 8| inches broad, penniveiued, primary 

 veius prominent compressed above much raised beneath, stipules large broad ovate obtuse pubescent, petioles 6-12 lines long, flowers 

 4-5-merous yellowish, very fragrant, in dense globular terminal heads about 1 inch in diameter, calyx-segmeuts very short gland-like 

 clavato and emarginate, corol-tube slender 2-2i- lines long, lobes obtuse, anthers on very short filaments, style twice as long as the 

 corol tubes, stigma large ovoid aud the apex nearly entire or somewhat 2-lobed, ovules very numerous and imbricate in each cell pendulous 

 from above the middle of the partition. Seed receptacles united into a fleshy apple-like globular mass more than 1 inch in diameter at 

 first much pitted and rough with the remains of the calyxes, smoother in age, seeds numerous in each cell scrobiculate attached to 

 fleshy gland like processes, at first all pendulous much imbricate, when the fruit is fully ripe the upper ones become erect. — Nauclea 

 cordata, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 508. Sarcocephalus cordatus, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. ii. 133. Nauclea coaduuata, Sm. in Rees. Cycl. xxiv ;— 

 DC. Prod. iv. 344. 



This tree is very common in the southern farts of Ceylon at no elevation, growing on the banks of streams, and is known by the name of 

 Eakmee ; it flowers in May and June ; the wood is light and tough and in use for sandals, common furniture, doors, &c. The Australian tree de- 

 scribed u,nder this name in Bentham's FL Aust. iii . p. 402 must be a different species if the seeds are as described, solitary or 2 superposed; the size of 

 the plate did not allow of my figuring the larger cordate leaves, which are often about 1 foot long and upwards of 8 inches broad. 



Analysis. 



1 . A branch in flower. 



2. A branch with nearly ripe fruit. 



3. A portion of a head of flowers shewing calyxes and corols. 



4. One of the clavate segments of the calyx. 



o. A 4-lobed aud 5-lobed corol, the lobes imbricate. 



6. A 4-lobed corol open, shewing the 4 nearly sessile stamens in the mouth of the tube and alternate with the segments. 



7 & 8. Anther, front and back view- 



9. Style and stigma. 



10. A portion of tbe dense globular mass of connate seed vessels which grow together into a globular fleshy fruit crowned by the 



remains of the calyxes and disks. 



1 1 . Apex of a young seed vessel. 



12. Young seed vessel cut vertically, 2-celled, seeds numerous imbricate attached at the apex to fleshy glands which are more 



or less pendulous from above the middle of the axis. 



13. The mass of young seeds and glandular appendages removed from the cell. 



14. A nearly ripe seed (scrobiculate.) 



15. Vertical section of a ripe seed vessel shewing some of the seeds directed upwards. All drawn from fresh specimens in 



spirits collected at Badagam in Ceylon, except No. 15, which is from a dried specimen communicated by Dr. Thwaites. 



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