S5 



TANGHINIA VENENIFLUA. 



(Poison-flowing Tanghin.) 

 LINNEAN SYSTEM. NATURAL ORDER. 



PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. . APOCYNACE.S. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Tanghinia (Aub. du Pet. Thouars). Calyx 5-partitus, persistens. Corolla decidua calyce 

 longior hypocrateriformis ; fauce subpentagona dilatata 5-dentata ■ limbo piano contorto o-lobo. 

 Stamina 5 ; filamentis brevissimis dilatatione tubi insertis, tuberculoque glanduloso ad basin 

 eujusque disposito. Antherce crassae cordiformes conniventes. Ovarium bilobum. Stylus 1, 

 tubi longitudine equalis. Stigma capitatum bilobum, annulo glanduloso cinctum, thecis anthe- 

 rarum inclusum. (Fructus ovatus drupaceus ; nux fibrosa utrinque acuta, unilateraliter fissa. 

 Seminis integumentum membranaceum fibris tenuibus tunicae nucis solummodo adherens. 

 Albumen crassum eoncavum, in sicco corneum). Cotyledones plana? tenues subcordata?. 

 Embryo superus inversus. — Bojer.) 



Calyx 5-parted, persistent. Corolla deciduous, longer than the calyx, salver-shaped ; throat 

 somewhat pentagonal, dilated, 5 -toothed ; limb spreading, contorted, 5-lobed. Stamens 5, with 

 very short filaments inserted in the dilated part of the tube, with a glandular tubercle at the 

 base of each. Anthers thick, heart-shaped, connivent. Ovarium 2-lobed. Style J, equal with 

 the length of the tube. Stigma capitate, 2-lobed, girded by a glandular ring, and enclosed by 

 the connivent anthers. (Fruit ovate, drupaceous ; nut fibrous, acute at both ends, cloven on 

 one side. Integument of the seed membranaceous, merely adhering to the tunic of the nut by 

 slender fibres. Albumen thick, concave, horny when dry. Cotyledons flat, thin, somewhat 

 heart-shaped. Embryo superior, inverted.) 



Tanghinia Veneniflua.— Poiret in Encycl. Bot. Suppl. vol. v., p. 283. 



Cerbera Tanghin. — Hooker, Bot. Mag. t. 2968. 



Descr. — A stove shrub six feet high (in its native country attaining thirty feet and 

 upwards), abounding in an acrid, milky juice. Trunk covered with a smooth ash-coloured 

 bark, the younger branches somewhat herbaceous, greenish, glabrous. Leaves from five to 

 eight inches long, coriaceous, glabrous, shining, obo rate-lanceolate, apiculate, with a cartilagi- 

 nous revolute margin, remarkably attenuated at the base, somewhat crowded towards the extre- 

 mities of the branches ; primary veins numerous, transverse, terminating and uniting in a sub- 

 marginal one. Flowers rose-coloured, in terminal somewhat corymbose panicles. Peduncles 

 and pedicels mostly biternate, articulated at the base, slightly compressed, angular, fleshy. Brae- 

 teas ovate, acute or obtuse, concave, deciduous. Calyx green, segments ovate, acute, two of 

 which are narrower than the others. Corolla with a green tube eight lines in length, pubescent 

 within ; scales of the throat very hairy, placed immediately above the anthers ; limb rose- 

 coloured, divisions spreading, undulated, unequal-sided, obtuse or acute, occasionally truncate, 



