Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon. 351 



from 2-2j-broad: Petioles about 2 lines long, thickened from the 

 middle upwards, convex on the under surface, and channeled above. 

 Flowers small, of a greenish white colour, in nearly sessile clusters of 

 from 6-15 in the axils of the leaves, and also occasionally on the 

 internodes. Pedicels about a line long, bearing a few small reddish 

 coloured bracts. Calyx adherent, limb 5-lobed, lobes rounded, per- 

 sistent. Corolla campanulate, 5-free valvate oblong-lanceolate petals 

 which are hairy inside. Stamens 5, opposite the petals, and to 

 which the flattened filaments adhere for half their length. Anthers 

 oblong, introrse, 2- celled. Ovary completely immersed in a conical, 

 fleshy, entire, yellow disk, 5-celled at the base, but only 1 -celled at 

 the top, with five ovules pendulous from the apex of a central 

 placenta. Style short, filiform : Stigma obtuse, obsoletely 5-lobed. 

 Fruit an oblong, somewhat fleshy drupe, of from 8-10 lines long, 

 and to which the calyx firmly adheres, leaving only that small portion 

 at the apex exposed which is covered by the disk, the withered 

 margin of which is seen surrounding the persistent base of the style, 

 1- celled, and by abortion 1- seeded. Seed pendulous, inverse, of 

 the same shape as the drupe, the cavity of which it nearly fills. 

 Testa thin, membranaceous, adhering firmly to the very copious al- 

 bumen. Embryo very small compared with the mass of albumen, in 

 a small cavity at the upper end of which it is found. Cotyledon of a 

 whitish colour, flat, and orbicular. Radical pointing towards the 

 upper end of the seed — with reference to its attachment — of a greenish 

 colour, round, thick, and about twice as long as the cotyledons. 



Obser. I. — I have but little hesitation in referring this plant 

 to Blume's genus Stromhosia, notwithstanding the very short 

 character he gives of it in his e( Bijdragen" which, however, 

 is partly correct so far as it goes, for he seems to have been 

 unacquainted with the structure of the fruit and seed. Since 

 he first described it about twenty years ago, no one seems 

 to have met with it again, for the character given by Don, 

 Meisner, and Endlicher, are merely transcripts of Blume's 

 one. By Blume himself, as well as by the above mentioned 

 authors, it is placed at the end of the natural order Rham- 

 nacea, from being considered more nearly related to it than 

 to any other. This was also the conclusion I arrived at 



