548 PHANEROGAMIA. 



and slender peduncles, equalling the leaves ; while in our plant tbey 

 do not exceed the petiole, and are only 3 or 4 lines in length, as they 

 are described by Forster ; with whose detailed description (published 

 by Guillemin) the scanty specimens well accord. 



The structure of the ovary in Nelitris is explained by Bentham (in 

 Lond. Jour. Bot. 2, p. 220), but it appears not to have been rightly 

 understood by Blume, who, in Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat. p. 72, has given 

 a detailed generic character, and described ten species of the Indian 

 Archipelago. 



Plate 60, D. — Nelitris fruticosa. Fig. 1. Unripe fruit, with its 

 peduncle and a pair of leaves, of the natural size. 2. Transverse 

 section of the fruit, magnified. 



2. Nelitris Vitiensis, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 60.) 



N. foliis ovatis sen ovato-lanceolatis acuminaiis basi acutis vel attenuatis 

 glabratis supra lucidis venis obliquis obsolete penninerviis, junioribus 

 ramulisque tenuiter sericeo-pubescentibus ; cymis laxifloris foliolosis 

 folio cequilongis ; calycis tubo cano-sericeo, lobis 5 ovatis obtusis; masc. 

 ovario abortivo. 



Var.? (3. foliis basi obtusis; floribus liermaphroditis ovario primum 

 quinqueloculariy loculis cleinde subbilocellatis. 



Hab. Ovolau and Muthuata, Feejee Islands : " a common shrub in 

 open grounds." 



There are here combined, with some misgiving, male specimens of 

 the plant delineated on Plate 60, B, which have the ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate leaves more or less tapering to both ends, and a specimen with 

 hermaphrodite flowers (the var. /?.?), the leaves of which are mostly 

 broader and rounded or obtuse at the base. No other difference of any 

 consequence is noticed. The branches are slender; the younger 

 branchlets and nascent foliage are silky with a fine and slender pubes- 

 cence, which disappears with age, except on the midrib beneath or 

 some of the lower surface of the leaves. The latter are 1£ to 2 



