76 PHANEROGAMIA. 



5. XYLOSMA, Forst. 



Xylosma, G. Forst. Prodr. Fl. Ins. Austr. p. 72 j Bennett, PI. Jav. Rar. p. 191. 

 Myroxylon, J. R. Forst. Char. Gen. p. 125, t. 63, non Mutis. 



1. Xylosma suaveolens, Forst. (Tab. 4). 



X. foliis ovatis creimto-subserratis chartaceis; calyce i-b-partito, lobis 

 acutis. 



Xylosma suaveolens, G. Forst. Prodr. no. 380 ; Guill. Zeph. Tait. p. 76. 

 Myroxylon suaveolens, J. R. Forst. 1. c. & MS. descr. in Zeph. Tait. 1. c. 



Hab. Tahiti, Society Islands, in forests on the mountains : also, on 

 Eimeo. 



A small tree, or a shrub, with a reddish and sweet-scented, hard 

 wood, according to Forster. Branches, leaves, &c, glabrous. Leaves 

 alternate, thin and chartaceous in texture, 2 or 3 inches long, ovate, 

 sometimes ovate-oblong, more or less acute or acuminate, obtuse or 

 acutish at the base, rather obscurely crenate-serrate, the teeth tipped 

 with a small callous gland, loosely reticulate-veined, the narrow mid- 

 rib prominent underneath, the upper surface somewhat shining: 

 petiole half an inch long. Flowers dioecious, small, greenish or 

 yellowish, in loose axillary and terminal corymbulose clusters. Pe- 

 duncle very short. Pedicels about 3 lines long, articulated near the 

 base, subtended by small ovate and scale-like bracts. Calyx deeply 

 4-5-cleft, or in the female flowers 4-5-parted, apparently yellowish- 

 green, nearly glabrous externally, silky-pubescent internally; the 

 lobes ovate, acute, ciliate on the margin (imbricated in aestivation). 

 Petals none. Disk annular, hypogynous, at least in the female plant, 

 glandular and fleshy, the margin 8-10-lobed. Male flowers: of these 

 only a single one is left on the specimen. The calyx resembles that 

 of the fertile flowers, except that it is less deeply cleft. Stamens 

 indefinitely numerous : filaments subulate-filiform, twice the length of 

 the calyx : anthers extrorse, two-celled, didymous, not appendiculate. 

 Female flowers not seen, except the calyx (with the disk) persistent 



