CXI. PR0TEACET1. 
1831 
7. XYLOMELUM, Sm. 
(Woody pear.) 
Flowers partially polygamous. Perianth regular, nearly cylindrical in the bud, 
"the segments revolute, dilated at the end into short concave laminae. Anthers 
apparently perfect in all the flowers, on short filaments inserted a little below the 
laminae, the connective produced beyond the cells in a short obtuse or gland-like 
■appendage. Hypogynous glands 4, small. Ovary in the fertile flowers shortly 
•stipitate or almost sessile, tapering into a filiform style clavate at the end, with a 
terminal stigma either small and scarcely prominent or large thick and pulvinate ; 
•ovules 2 laterally attached below the middle ; in the sterile flowers the ovary is 
abortive, but the style is clavate at the end though without any stigmatic surface. 
Fruit large, ovoid or tapering above the middle, very thick and woody, tardily 
opening along the upper side or in 2 valves. Seeds flat, obliquely ovate, with a 
long terminal oblique or falcate wing. — Trees or tall shrubs. Leaves opposite, 
-entire or prickly-toothed. Flowers in opposite dense spikes, axillary or at first 
■forming a terminal cluster, becoming lateral by the elongation of the branch. 
Bracts small, at first imbricate, but falling off long before the flowering. Flowers 
sessile in pairs within each bract, the lower ones of the spike usually perfect, the 
upper ones with abortive ovaries. 
The genus is endemic in Australia, where it is widely spread, the fruits generally known 
under the name of wooden pears. 
Xieaves veined, those at least of the barren branches prickly-toothed. 
Perianth ferruginous-villous, 5 to 6 lines long. Leaves of the flowering 
branches usually entire . . 1. X. pyriforme. 
iieaves all quite entire. Perianth silky, under 4 lines long. 
Leaves lanceolate, often falcate, veined. Fruits nearly glabrous, narrow. 2. A', salicinum. 
1. X. pyriforme (pear-shaped), Knight , Prot. 105 ; Benth. FI. Austr. v. 408. 
A tree of moderate size, the young shoots ferruginous-villous or tomentose, but 
•becoming glabrous, the spikes remaining densely tomentose-villous. Leaves of 
the flowering branches usually entire, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, very acute, 
4 to Gin. long and tapering into a rather long petiole, those of the flowerless 
branches or of the younger plants often sinuate and prickley-toothed and 
attaining 8in. with short petioles, all at length coriaceous and shining. Spikes 
very dense, 2 to 3in. long, usually clustered 3 to 6 together and at first appear- 
ing terminal, but soon lateral by the growing out of the shoots. Bracts woolly- 
villous, orbicular, to 2 lines diameter. Perianth about 5 lines long. Style- 
•end clavate. Fruit '2.\ to 3in. long and above lin. diameter near the base, some- 
what tapering above the middle. — R. Br. in Trans. Linn. Soc. x. 189, Prod. 387, 
Trot. Nov. 31 ; Meissn. in DC. Prod. xiv. 422 ; Endl. Iconogr. t. 47, 48 ; Reichb. 
lie. Exot. t. 90 ; Banlcsia pyrifonnis, Gsertn. Fr. i. 220, t. 47 ; Sm. in White, 
Voy. 224, t. 21 ; Hakea pyrifonnis, Cav. Anal. Hist. Nat. i. 217, Ic. vi. 25, t. 536 ; 
^Concilium pyriforme, Wild. Enum. Hort. Berol. 141. 
Hah : From southern border to Dawson Kiver. 
Wood dark-red, coarse-grained, prettily figured ; suitable for cabinet-work. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. 
Woods, No. 329. 
2. X. salicinum (willow-leaved), A. Cunn. in B. Br. Prot. Nov. 31 ; Benth. 
Ihl. Anstr. v. 408. A small tree, glabrous except the inflorescence or the young 
shoots minutely hoary-pubescent. Leaves lanceolate, broad or narrow, obtuse, 
falcate, entire, contracted into a slender petiole, 4 to 8in. long, of a pale green 
above, usually glaucous or whitish underneath. Spikes 1| to 2in. long, the 
rhachis and flowers tomentose-pubescent and whitish, sometimes silvery. Bracts 
small and broad, imbricate in the very young spike, but very deciduous. Perianth 
3 to 3| lines long. Ovary villous. Style shortly clavate, and in the fertile 
-flowers cappsd by a thick broad pulvinate stigma, which has not been observed in 
