654 
LI. MYRTACE^E. 
[Fenzlia. 
about 1 line long ; lobes narrow lanceolate-subulate, usually longer than the tube 
and united at the base in a short open limb. Petals obovate, 2 to 3 lines long, 
pubescent or nearly glabrous. Stamens shorter than the petals. Fruit very hard, 
ovoid, 2 to 3 lines long, glabrous or tomentose. Seeds usually 2 or 3. 
Hab.: Shoalwater Bay Passage, Broadsound, &c., R. Brown; Cape York, M'Gillivraij, IF. 
Hill; islands of Torres Straits, Hutchinson, C. Moore; Rockingham Bay, Dallachi/ ; Russell 
River, IF. Hill, 
Var. microphylla. Leaves 3 to 4 lines long. — Dividing ranges between Thomson and Burdekin 
Rivers, 5. Sutherland (a small fragment and another in Bowman's collection in Herb. F. Mueller). — 
Benth. 
2. F. retusa (leaves retuse), Endl. Atakta, 20 t. 18 ; Benth. FI. Austr. iii. 
279. Very near F. obtnsa, but much more stellate- tomentose. Leaves usually 
but not always smaller, mostly under -fin. long, in the original specimens narrow 
and notched at the end, scarcely losing their tomentum on the upper side. 
Pedicels short. Flowers small. Calyx-tube more globular than in F. obtnsa and 
densely tomentose, the lobes shorter than the tube. Petals tomentose outside, 
not so much contracted at the base in our specimens as represented in the plate. 
Fruit usually almost globular, much smaller than in F. obtnsa, more or less 
tomentose. 
Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Broivn ; Victoria River, F. v. Mueller. 
28. DECASPERMUM, Forst. 
(Fruit ten-seeded.) 
Calyx-tube campanulate, not at all or scarcely produced above the ovary ; lobes 
4 or 5. Petals 4 or 5, spreading. Stamens numerous, in several series, free ; 
anthers versatile, with parallel cells opening longitudinally. Ovary 4 or 5-celled, 
with 2 or very few ovules in each cell, and sometimes each cell divided into two 
by a spurious dissepiment ; style filiform, the stigma in the perfect flowers peltate. 
Berry globular, crowned by the calyx-lobes. Seeds few, reniform-globose ; testa 
hard ; embryo horseshoe-shaped or circular, with a long radicle and short linear 
cotyledons. — Shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite, penniveined. Flowers 
small, pedicellate in axillary racemes, often forming terminal leafy panicles, 
occasionally polygamous. 
The genus is dispersed over tropical Asia, especially the Indian Archipelago and the Pacific 
Islands, the Australian species apparently identical with the commonest Asiatic one. It is 
nearly allied to Myrtus, but readily distinguished by the number of cells to the ovary. — Benth. 
1. D. paniculata (flowers paniculate), Knrz. in Journ. Ag. Soc. Beng. xlvi. 
A shrub or small tree, the young shoots and inflorescence silky-pubescent. 
Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acutely acuminate, narrowed at the base, 1 to 2in. long, 
glabrous above, with fine scarcely conspicuous nearly transverse veins, silky- 
pubescent underneath or at length glabrous. Flowers smaller than in other 
Australian Myrtles, the racemes usually shorter or scarcely longer than the leaves, 
but often forming an elegant leafy panicle. Calyx very silky-pubescent, the tube 
about i line long, and the lobes about the same length. Petals twice as long as 
the calyx-lobes, more or less silky-pubescent. Anthers small, nearly globular. 
Berry about 2 lines diameter. Seeds few, with a hard tubercular-rugose almost 
bony testa ; cotyledons nearly one-third the length of the embryo. — Nelitris 
paniculata, Benth. FI. Austr. iii. 279; Wight, Ic. t. 521; Myrtus elachantha, 
F. v. M. Fragm. iv. 56. 
Hab.: Moreton Bay, IF. Hill ; Pine woods. Wide Bay, Bidwill. 
Common in the Indian Archipelago up to the Philippine Islands and in the eastern provinces 
of India to Khasia. 
Var. laxiflora. Leaves longer, the veins more or less transverse (only visible in the old 
leaves). Flowers more numerous, in looser racemes and rather larger, the calyx glabrous or 
very slightly pubescent. Ovary 5-celled with 5 to 7 ovules in each cell (usually 2 or 3 in the 
common form). Fruit not seen. Perhaps a distinct species. — Rockingham Bay, Dallachy (Benth.) 
