Tournefortia .j 
LXXX1V. BORAGINE.E. 
1041 
style terminal, entire, the stigmatic summit entire or notched, surrounded by 
a prominent fleshy ring (except in T. sarmentosa ) . Fruit a drupe, with 
4 1 -seeded pyrenes, either quite distinct or more or less cohering in pairs or 
quite united in a 4-celled putamen. Seeds with or without albumen, the 
cotyledons not folded. — Trees shrubs or woody climbers, rarely (in species not 
Australian) almost herbaceous, tomentose villous or rarely almost glabrous. 
Leaves undivided and entire. Flowers usually white or nearly so, in unilateral 
spikes, arranged in dichotomous cymes, usually without bracts. Fruits small. 
The genus is widely distributed over the tropical regions of the New and the Old World. O'. 
the 3 Australian species, 2 are in the Indian Archipelago, and extend from the islands o 1 
the African coast to those of the South Pacific, the third is endemic. The genus is a natural 
one, distinguished from Heliotropium by the drupaceous fruit, from Ehretia chiefly by the style 
The fleshy annulus round the summit, which Tournefortia has in common with Heliotropium. 
and which Fresenius (in Mart. FI. Bras.) considers as an absolute character of the proposed 
Order of Heliotropiece, is, however, wanting in T. sarmentosa. — Benth. 
Corolla-lobes longer than the tube, imbricate in the bud. Foliage and 
inflorescence very densely silky-tomentose 1. T. aryentea. 
Corolla-lobes shorter than the tube, plicate and induplicate in the bud. 
Foliage tomentose hirsute or nearly glabrous. 
Corolla-lobes rather acute. Stigma surrounded by a fleshy ring. Krect 
tree or shrub 2. T mollis 
Corolla-lobes obtuse or retuse. Stigma not thickened. Branches long 
weak or climbing 3. T. sarmentosa 
1. T. argentea (silvery), Linn. /.; II. Hr. I' rod. 497 ; Benth. FI. 
Austr. iv. 889. A tall erect shrub, the branches, foliage, and inflorescence 
densely tomentose or villous with soft silky hairs. Leaves crowded at the 
ends of the thick branchlets, obovate ovate or obovate-oblong, soft and thick, 
4 to 6in. long, narrowed into a short petiole. Flowers small, sessile, and 
numerous, in large, dense, terminal dichotomous cymes or panicles. Calyx- 
segments orbicular, ciliate, about 1 line diameter. Corolla shortly exceeding 
the calyx, the lobes broad, obtuse, longer than the tube, imbricate in the bud, 
glabrous inside, sprinkled with a few hairs outside. Anthers ovate, rnucronulate. 
Hypogynous disk prominent or obscure. Style exceedingly short, the thick 
fleshy annulus surrounding the notched summit appearing almost sessile on the 
ovary. Fruit glabrous, nearly globular, with 2 opposite furrows, but containing 
4 distinct pyrenes. Seeds without any (or with a thin ?) albumen. -DC. Prod, 
ix. 514 ; Rumph, Herb. Ambion. iv. t. 55. 
Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. R. Brown, Henne ; Albany Island, (('. Hill; 
Barnard Isles, iRGillivray ; Howick’s group, /''. t\ Mueller; estuary of the Burdekin, 
fitzalan ; Rockingham Bay, Dallnchy. 
The species extends along the seacoasts of Eastern tropical Africa, the Mauritius, Ceylon, the 
Eastern Archipelago, New Caledonia, and the Islands of the Pacific. 
2. T. mollis (soft), /•'. r. M. Fragm. i. 59; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 890. An 
erect not much branched shrub of several feet, the branches and foliage velvety- 
pubescent. Leaves from broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or obtusely 
acuminate, often rugose, 2 to 4in. long or longer on barren shoots. Cymes 
dichotomous, pedunculate, the pedicels exceedingly short, without bracts. 
Calyx-segments lanceolate, pubescent, about 1 line long. Corolla pubescent 
outside, the tube li to 2 lines long, somewhat contracted upwards ; lobes broad, 
much plicate, rather acute, about one-tliird as long as the tube, induplicate in the 
bud. Ovary tapering into a short style, the stigma with a thick broad fleshy 
ring, round a slightly-depressed obscurely 2-lobed centre. Fruit nearly globular, 
above 2 lines diameter when full grown, containing either 4 pyrenes or 2 pyrenes 
each one readily divisible into 2. Seeds with a rather thick albumen. 
Hab.: Burdekin River, F. r. Mueller : Edgecombe Bay, Port Denison, and Herbert River, 
])al.lachy. 
