736 
LXI. ARALIACEiE. 
[Brassaia. 
stout rhachis of the racemes, which attain sometimes several feet, and are often 
several together at the end of the branch, each one subtended by long acuminate 
leafless stipules. — F. v. M. Fragm. ii. 108, iv. 121 ; Seem. -Journ. Bot. ii. 213. 
Hab.: Endeavour River, Banks and Solander, A. Cunningham ; Cape York, IV. Hill ; Palm 
Island, Home ; Port Molle, Fitzalan; Rockingham Bay, Dallachy ; Boyd River, C. Moore. 
Wood soft, close-grained, and dark. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods No. 235. 
10. HEDERA, Linn. 
(Old Latin name for the Ivy.) 
(Irvingia, F. v. .1/.; Kissodendron, Seem.) 
Calyx-border slightly prominent, entire or sinuate-toothed. Petals 5, valvate. 
Stamens 5. Disk convex, sometimes very prominent, Ovary 5-celled. Styles 
united into an obtuse cone or very short cylindrical style, with 5 scarcely 
prominent stigmas. Fruit nearly globular, with 5 1-seeded pyrenes. Seed with 
a furrowed or ruminated albumen. — Woody climbers or trees. Leaves entire, 
lobed or pinnately compound. Flowers umbellate, not articulate on the pedicel, 
the umbels pedunculate on terminal panicles. 
The gcuus, characterised essentially by the ruminated albumen, contains besides the Australian 
species, which is endemic, one widely dispersed over the northern hemisphere in the Old World, 
and probably some other Asiatic ones as yet insufficiently investigated. — Benth. 
1. H. australiana (Australian), F. r. M. Fragm. iv. 120; Benth. FI. Austr. 
iii. 384. A small tree, quite glabrous. Leaves large, pinnate, the rhachis 
articulate ; leaflets few, ovate, oval-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, shortly acuminate, 
often above Gin. long, smooth and shining, but prominently veined almost as in 
Heptapleurum venulosum. Umbels pedunculate, with the peduncles almost verti- 
cillate along the elongated branches of a large loose terminal panicle. Calyx- 
border slightly sinuate-toothed. Disk broadly conical, though not quite so 
thick as in H. helix. Style very shortly cylindrical or reduced to a small boss on 
the centre of the disk. Drupe above 2 lines diameter, with 5 hard pyrenes, 
enclosing a seed with a deeply ruminate surface. — Irvingia australiana , F. v. M. 
Fragm. v. 19 ; Kissodendron australianum, Seem. Journ. Bot. iii. 201. 
Hab.: Herbert River, I. v. Mueller ; Rockingham Bay, Dallachy. 
The semisuperior appearance of the ovary of Hedera helix is due to the thickness of the 
epigynous disk, and the only character remaining to separate H. australiana generically from it 
is the compound foliage, which can scarcely be admitted in an Order where it is so peculiarly 
variable. — Benth. 
Order LXIL CORNACE®. 
Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary ; limb forming a raised border, entire or with 
as many teeth as petals. Petals 4, 5, or rarely more, valvate in the bud, inserted 
round an epigynous disk or on the calyx-border, rarely wanting. Stamens as 
many or rarely twice as many as the petals, and inserted with them ; anthers 
with parallel cells opening longitudinally. Ovary inferior, 1 or 2-celled, with 1 
anatropous pendulous ovule in each cell ; style simple, with a terminal entire or 
rarely lobed stigma. Fruit an indehiscent drupe, with a 1 or 2-celled nucleus. 
Seeds solitary, pendulous, with a fleshy albumen and thin testa; embryo straight, 
nearly as long as thg. albumen, the radicle superior and shorter than the flat 
cotyledons. — Trees, shrubs, or very rarely herbs. Leaves opposite or rarely 
alternate, entire or slightly lobed, without stipules. Flowers usually small, in 
axillary or terminal heads, cymes, or corymbose panicles. 
A small Order, generally scattered over the globe, but most abundant in the temperate regions 
of the northern hemisphere. It is represented in Australia by a single genus common to tropical 
Asia and Africa, and belonging to the small section of Alangiea, differing in alternate leaves and 
in some other respects from the majority of the Order.— Benth. 
