AQUIFOLIACEiE. 



297 



numerous, in trichotomous axillary cymes: the peduncle an inch or 

 more in length, apparently two-edged; its branches divaricate, sub- 

 tended by a pair of small oblong bracts : pedicels 2 or 3 lines long. 

 Calyx small, persistent, usually four-lobed, sometimes three-lobed 

 according to Hooker and Arnott ; the lobes broad and rounded, imbri- 

 cated in estivation, crenulately 3-4-toothed in the fertile flowers, entire 

 or nearly so in the sterile, of a thick and firm texture. Corolla hypo- 

 gynous, Q-9-parted, more commonly eight-parted, rotate-spreading, 

 deciduous; the lobes rounded, imbricated in aestivation, one and a 

 half to 2 lines long. /Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla and 

 alternate with them, or rarely one or two more, inserted on its short tube: 

 filaments subulate, flattened, about half the length of the lobes of the 

 corolla: anthers didymous, two-celled, introrse; the cells opening 

 longitudinally, in many of the fertile flowers smaller and effete. 

 Hypogynous disk none. Ovary closely sessile in the calyx, globular, 

 12-lS-celled ; in the sterile flowers smaller and imperfect. Stigma 

 closely sessile, broad, discoid, radiate with 12 to 18 lines, depressed 

 in the centre, persistent. Ovules solitary in each cell, suspended from 

 its apex, anatropous; the rhaphe dorsal. Drupe baccate, spherical, 

 12-18-grooved when immature or dry, 3 or 4 lines in diameter, black, 

 containing from 12 to 18 separable pyrence or nucules, which are of a 

 fibrous-cartilaginous texture, smooth, and moderately grooved on the 

 back. Seed filling the cell, with a thin testa. Embryo minute at the 

 apex of the fleshy albumen : radicle superior. 



Plate 26. — Byronia Sandwicensis : a plant in flower and fruit. 

 Fig. 1. A sterile flower, with 6 petals and stamens. 2. Corolla of 8 

 petals and stamens, displayed. 3. Calyx and ovary of the same. 4. 

 Interior, and 5, an exterior view of a stamen. 6. A fertile flower. 7. 

 Vertical section of the same. 8. An ovule detached. 9. Transverse 

 section of the ovary. 10. Drupe, with the persistent calyx. 11. 

 Transverse section of the same. 12. Vertical section of a drupe. 



2. Byronia Taitensis, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 25.) 



B. foliis spathulato-oblongis seu lanceolato-oblongis ; staminibus fl. masc. 

 quandoque petal is numero duplis; ovarii loculls pyrenisque 10-12. 



Hab. Mountains of Tahiti, Society Islands. 



75 



