Mriliii ilia.) 
Lii. meLastoMace^e. 
671 
secondary nerves very spreading, distant ; veins obliterated ; calyx urceolar- 
campanulate, entire at the margin ; crown of ovary depressed, surrounded by an 
annular indexed membrane ; fruit 6-celled ; placental lamina reaching far into 
the cavity, very densely beset with oblique, ellipsoid-clavate, smooth, shining 
seeds. — F. v. M. l.e. 
Hab.: Bellenden Ker along Alice Creek, 11'. Sayer. 
This species, the first detected in Australia, is not unlike 31. pterocaula, but the branchlets are 
not prominently angular, the leaves are not much decurrent on the petiole, their intramarginal 
nerve is very faint or obliterated, and the fruiting-calyx is constricted below the orifice ; the flora 
characteristics require to be studied, only leafy branchlets and loose over-ripe fruits being 
available yet. The fruits are upwards much less attenuated than those of 31. rosea. On these 
aged fruits it is difficult to trace the tender bilaminulated placental plates ; but their attachment 
seems axillary, not as in Astroniu, basal. The external resemblance, however, of the above plant 
to species of the lastmentioned genus is remarkable, though it reminds us also, when in a fruiting 
state, of several species of Ayapetes, Ilhodamnia, and Rhodomyrtus. — F. v. 31. l.c. 
5. MEMECYLON, Linn. 
(A name of Dioscorides for a Strawberry-like fruit.) 
Calyx-tube hemispherical or campanulate, the limb entire or obtusely 4-lobed, 
rarely 5-lobed. Petals 4 or rarely 5, ovate or orbicular. Stamens twice as 
many as petals, all equal and similar ; anthers short, with a thick connective, 
forming a conical spur at the base, the cells opening in longitudinal slits. Ovary 
entirely adnate to the calyx-tube, 1-celled, with 6 to 12 ovules, verticillate round 
a short central placenta ; style filiform, with a small stigma. Fruit a berry, 
crowned by the calyx-teeth or border, or by a circular scar only. Seeds solitary 
or rarely 2 or 8 ; testa somewhat crustaceous ; cotyledons very much convolute 
or variously folded, usually enclosing the radicle. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves 
coriaceous, with 1 prominent midrib and pinnate veins often scarcely perceptible. 
Flowers usually small, in axillary clusters or cymes. 
The genus is spread over the tropical regions of the Old World, the species especially numerous 
in Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago. The only Australian one is also in Ceylon and the 
Indian Peninsula. — Renth. 
1. M. umbellatum (umbellate), Bunn. FI. lnd. 87; Benth. FI. Austr. iii. 
298. A bushy or divaricately-branched shrub, quite glabrous. Leaves shortly 
petiolate, from broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obscurely and obtusely 
acuminate, 1 to 2in. long, of a dark-green and shining above, paler or sometimes 
yellowish underneath, the veins usually quite inconspicuous. Peduncles axillary, 
very short, bearing an umbel-like or shortly racemose cluster of small flowers, 
on slender pedicels of 1 line or rather more. Adnate part of the calyx-tube very 
short, the free part broadly campanulate, less than 1 line diameter, broadly and 
shortly 4-lobed. Petals ovate, acute, about 1 line long. Stamens exceeding the 
petals. Fruit green, smooth, nearly globular, about 8 or rarely 4 lines diameter, 
crowned by the small persistent calyx-limb ; pericarp slightly fleshy. Seed solitary, 
globular ; cotyledons fleshy and very much contortuplicate. — Thwaites, Enurn. 
Ceyl. PI. Ill ; M. ramijiorum, Lam. Diet. iv. 88, DC. Prod. iii. 6 (at least as to 
the Indian plant); Wight, Illustr. i. 214, t. 93 (M. tinctorimn, Ivoen. on the 
plate) ; Myrcia t Australasia;, F. v. M. Eep. Burd. Exped. 7. 
Hab.: Estuary of the Burdekin, Fitsalan ; Mount Elliott, Edgecombe and liockingham Bays, 
Dallachy ; Cleveland Bay, Bowman. 
The species is common in Ceylon and the Indian Peninsula, and perhaps also in the Mauritius. 
Order LIII. LYTHRARIE®. 
Calyx-tube free, but usually enclosing the ovary ; lobes or primary teeth 4, 5, 
or sometimes more, very rarely 3, valvate in the* bud, the sinus sometimes pro- 
duced externally into as many accessory teeth. Petals as many as primary 
