94 
Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 
valvate, often gland-dotted or -striate. Stamens opposite to the corolla- 
lobes and equal to them in number, free or adnate to the lobes or in an 
inner ring, generally erect ; filaments long or short ; anthers opening 
by slits, usually introrsely, sometimes septate as in AEgiceras and 
Ardisia littoralis, sometimes with terminal openings as well, free or 
adherent by their edges ; the connective often thickened and produced, 
sometimes glandular; staminodes sometimes present, though not in 
Malay species. Ovary globose, ovoid or oblong, free (in Mcesa adherent 
to the calyx- tube), 1-celled, narrowed into or surmounted by the style; 
style filiform or columnar, stigma usually simple ; ovules few or many, 
inserted on or immersed in a free usually globose central placenta. 
Fruit usually small, globose (in JEgiceras linear, curved, acuminate) ; 
epicarp fleshy, mesocarp crustaceous, endocarp membranous, separable ; 
usually one- rarely several-seeded (as in Mcesa), indehiscent. Seeds 
usually globose, hollowed at the base : in Mcesa many and angled ; 
albumen pitted or ruminate ; embryo transverse, cylindric ; radicle 
usually elongate. — Distrib. Tropical or sub-tropical regions of both 
hemispheres, chiefly in Asia and South America; genera 32, species 
upwards of 900 (according to Mez Monog. Myrsinece). 
Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary ; fruit many-seeded (Tribe I. 
Mieses) : — 
Trees or shrubs ; calyx 2-bracteolate ; flowers in simple or com- 
pound racemes 
Calyx-tube free from the ovary ; fruit one-seeded (Tribe II. 
Eumyrsine^:) : — 
Fruit round ; anther-cells usually opening by slits, rarely sep- 
tate : — 
Corolla-lobes imbricate in bud : — 
Flowers in axillary or lateral fascicles ; trees or shrubs 
Flowers in racemes or panicles; climbing plants, rarely 
shrubs 
Corolla-lobes valvate in bud ; flowers in paniculate spike-like 
racemes ; small shrubs with parallel- veined leaves 
Corolla-lobes contorted in bud : — 
Anthers sagittate, rarely septate ; corolla-lobes overlapping 
to the right 
Anthers sagittate-lanceolate, the connective produced in a 
membranous wing ; corolla-lobes overlapping to the left 
Fruit elongate, cylindric, long-pointed ; anthers markedly septate 
1. Miesa. 
2. Myrsine. 
3. Embelia. 
4. Labisia. 
5. Ardisia. 
6. Antistrophe. 
7. TEgiceras. 
1. M^sa, Forsk. 
Trees or shrubs, erect or straggling. Leaves entire, dentate or ser- 
rate, usually pellucid-punctate, sometimes with resinous lines. Flowers 
hermaphrodite or unisexual, in terminal or axillary racemes, the 
pedicels bracteate. Calyx bibracteolate, 4-5-lobed ; lobes persistent, 
