BYTTN1’. HIACK.i'.. 
95 
valvular. Petals 5, or none, hypogynous. Stamens 
in number equal, or ‘2-3 or many times the number 
of the sepals or petals, momidelphous : anthers 2-cell- 
ed, turned outwards. Carpels 5, rarely 3, or uniting 
to form a single ovarium. Styles of the same number 
as the carpels. Fruit capsular. Albumen oily or 
fleshy, rarely awanting. Embryo straight, with an 
inferior radicle : 'cotyledons leafy, or very thick. 
Trees or shrubs : when pubescent, the hairs are star-shaped : 
leaves alternate, simple, stipulated. This Order differs very 
little from the two preceding, except that the anthers, in this, 
are bilocular. Like the Mallow tribe, they give out, when in- 
fused in water, a mucilaginous juice. It is from the Sterculia 
Tragacantha that the gum Tragacanth is obtained. The 
flowers of many of the species, such as the Astrapcea Walli- 
chii, a native of India, are said to be among the most beautiful 
in the world. 
I: Sterculia. 
Calyx 5-lobed, subcoriaceous. Stamens monadel- 
phous, situated on a short sessile or stalked urceole : 
anthers 10, 15, 20, in one or two rows, solitary or 
ternately aggregate. Ovary stipitate, or sessile. Car- 
pels follicular, 5, distinct, 1 -celled 1- or many-seeded, 
dehiscent superiorly by a broad slit : albumen of the 
seeds oily ; cotyledons plain, leafy, equal. — Dc Cand. 
Name , from Sterculius the Roman god of the privy, which 
again is derived from stercus excrement. The leaves of one 
species, and the flowers of another, have a disagreeable fcetid 
odour. 
1 . Sterculia acuminata. Cola-nut. 
Leaves oblong acuminate very entire glabrous on 
long petioles, flowers axillary panicled, anthers bi- 
serial sessile, carpels 1 -seeded. 
De Cand. Prod. I. 482. 
HAB. Cultivated. 
FL. May. 
This is a tree of moderate height, introduced into this Island 
from the hottest parts of Africa, of which it is a native. The 
fruit is known by the names of Cola, Kolia or Colla, and appears 
from the writings of the older Botanists to have been imported 
And known in Europe, long before they became acquainted 
