Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon. 345 



loculis 2, pendula. Stylus simplex, persistens ; stigma capi- 

 tate- subtrilobatum. Bacca sicca, membranacea, ovata, glabra, 

 3-locularis, indehiscens, loculis monospermis. Semina pen- 

 dula, compressa, glabra : Embryo in axi albuminis, carnosi, 

 orthotropus : cotyledonibus planis, ellipticis, venosis radicula 

 tereti, elongata, crassa, supera. — arbor parva, ramosa, Ceyla- 

 nica\ foliis oppositis f petiolatis, ovato-ellipticis, acuminatis, 

 integerrimis, stipulis deciduis pedunculis axilliaribus, uniflo- 

 ris, solitarius vel binis, petalis glabris, albis. 



1. Anstrutheria Ceylanica. — Plate IV. 



Habit. — Common about Point de Galle, in the southern 

 province, on low wooded hills near the sea. Flowers in 

 September. 



Descr. — A very much branched shrub or small tree. Branches 

 round, glabrous. Leaves opposite, petiolate, glabrous, entire, ovate- 

 elliptical, acuminate, rounded at the base, from 3 — 3|- inches long, 

 and about \\ broad, green and shining above, pale beneath, reticu- 

 lated, veins prominent on both sides ; petiole about 4 lines long, 

 convex beneath, channeled above. Stipules oblong, deciduous. Pe- 

 duncules solitary or binary in the axils of the leaves, shorter than the 

 petiole, 1 -flowered. Calyx with two rounded, concave bracts imme- 

 diately below it, and enclosing the flower bud in its young state, 

 free, 4 -parted, segments ovate, acute, about equal, persistent, densely 

 covered externally with adpressed hairs, cestivation valvate. Petals 

 4, hypogynous, cuveate, deeply and somewhat regularly lacintated, 

 with an imbricated cestivation. Stamens about 30, hypogynous; 

 filaments filiform, glabrous. Anthers erect, cordate- oblong, obtuse, 

 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary sessile, superior, 3-celled. 

 Ovules in each cell 2, collateral, pendulous. Style simple, persistent. 

 Stigma capitate, somewhat 3-lobed. Fruit a dry berry with a thick 

 spongy membranous coat, ovate, glabrous, indehiscent, 3-celled, 

 cells 1 -seeded. Seeds pendulous, somewhat triangularly compressed, 

 glabrous. Embryo in the axis of a fleshy albumen orthotropous ; 

 cotyledons plane, elliptical, veined ; radical cylindrical, thick, elon- 

 gated, and directed upwards. 



