Descriptions of Malayan Plants. 197 



seed. Embryo erect, central, as long as the albumen. Coty- 

 ledons flat, foliaceous, ovate, obtuse. Radicle inferior, obverse 

 to the umbilicus, round, much shorter than the cotyledons. 



XXVIII. HIPPOCRATEACEiE. 



SALACIA. Linn, 



This genus seems to require a little elucidation. It was 

 originally referred to Gynandria, the fleshy nectary on 

 which the stamina are inserted having been mistaken for 

 the germen, and the real ovary, on account of its smallness, 

 having escaped the observation of Linnaeus and Loureiro. 

 This is now I believe generally admitted ; there can there- 

 fore be no doubt of the identity of Roxburgh's Johnia with 

 Salacia, and his /. Salacioides agrees so well with 5. Chi- 

 nensiSi particularly in having entire leaves, that it is ques- 

 tionable whether they are not the same, for it is to be ob- 

 served that in most of the species the leaves are only 

 subopposite, and may occasionally on the same tree be 

 found both opposite and alternate. Tonsella prinoides, 

 Willd: Act: Am: Nat: Berol : IV. is also without doubt 

 a true species of Salacia, if it be not in fact the same 

 plant as the Johnia Coromandeliana, Roxb : Flor : Ind : I. 

 p. 173. Calypso salacioides of Aubert du Petit Thouars 

 agrees exactly with these in the structure of the flower, but 

 differs in having many-seeded berries. Some of the species 

 of Tonsella appear likewise to have polyspermous fruit, but 

 those which have definite seeds are probably true species of 

 Salacia. It may be questioned whether the distinction 

 founded on the number of seeds be really of generic value 

 where the agreement is so exact in all other respects, espe- 

 cially if it should be found that a gradation exists from the 

 one to the other in the fruit of the different species. This, 



