Cassytha.] 
CX. LAURINEiE. 
1315 
4 lines long, the whole plant especially the flowers usually drying very black. — 
Meissn. in DC. Prod. xv. i. 254 ; Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 317 ; C. robusta, Meissn. 
l.c. 255. 
Hab. : Recorded far Queensland by F. v. M. without locality, 
6. C. racemosa (flowers in racemes), Xees. in Pl. Preiss. i. 621 ; Benth. PL 
Aiistr. v. 312. Glabrous in the typical form, with slender stems. Spikes or 
racemes pedunculate with few flowers, sometimes crowded at the end of the 
peduncle, more frequently distant, pedicellate or rarely nearly sessile, small and 
glabrous. Perianth under 1 line long. Three stamens of the outer row, those 
opposite the inner perianth segments, reduced to linear staminodia, nearly as 
long as the perfect stamens and sometimes slightly dilated above the middle, but 
always without anther-cells, the other stamens as in the rest of the genus. 
Fruiting perianth globular, ovoid or obovoid, obscurely 6-ribbed, about 2 lines 
diameter. — Meissn. in DC. Prod. xv. i. 257 ; C. Muelleri, Meissn. l.c. 257 ; 
C. dif/itata, Nees. in PI. Preiss i. 620 ; Meissn. l.c. 257. 
Hab,: Moreton Island, F. v. Mueller. 
When the pedicels are very short, C. racemosa might be mistaken for C. glabella, but it is 
always readily distinguished in all its forms by the staminodia instead of stamens opposite the. 
inner perianth-segments, which I have not observed in any other species. — Benth. 
8. HERNANDIA, Linn. 
(After F. Hernandez, M.D.) 
Flowers monoecious. Perianth-segments in two rows, valvate in each row in- 
the bud, 3 or 4 in each row in the males and 4 or 5 in the females. Male fl. 
Stamens as mauy as the outer perianth-segments and opposite to them, with a 
gland on each side at the base (or in species not Australian on one side only or 
none) ; anthers 2-celled, introrse, the valves separating laterally from the inner 
to the outer edge. Female fl. inserted in a cup-shaped or lobed involucel. Glands 
or staminodia as many as outer perianth-segments and opposite to them. Ovary 
inferior, fleshy ; style short, thick, wiih a dilated irregularly toothed or lobed 
stigma. Fruit somewhat fleshy or coriaceous, indehiscent, enclosed in the 
enlarged fleshy or thickly membranous involucel. Seed globular ; testa thick and 
hard, without albumen, Embryo with thick fleshy deeply-lobed cotyledons. — 
Trees. Leaves alternate, peltate or palmately nerved. Flowers in loose panicles 
on lateral peduncles at the ends of the branches, each branch of the panicle 
terminating in an involucre of 4 or 5 verticillate bracts enclosing 3 flowers, the 
central one female, sessile within the cup-shaped involucel, the 2 lateral ones 
males and pedicellate. 
The genus contains but few species, chiefly maritime, extending over the tropical regions of 
the New as well as the Old World. Of the two Australian species one has a considerable range 
in the Old World, the other appears to be endemic. 
Leaves peltate. Involucel of the female flowers and fruits entire, truncate. 
Male flowers 3-merous, females 4-merous 1. H. peltata. 
Leaves not peltate, except on young plants. Involucel of the female flowers 
and fruit deeply 2-valved. Male flowers 4-merous, females 5 merous . . . 2 . H. bivalvis. 
1. H. peltata (peltate), Meissn. in DC. Prod. xv. i. 263 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 
v. 314. A large tree with a spreading head, glabrous or the inflorescence very 
slightly hoary-tomentose. Leaves on long petioles, broadly ovate, acuminate, 
peltately attached near the base, 5- to 9-nerved and remotely penniveined, the 
larger ones nearly 1ft. long, the upper ones much smaller. Panicles shorter than 
the leaves, the flowers almost clustered on the branches, one terminal female 
between two males within a whorl of 4 bracts, and sometimes one or two male 3 . 
