32 
equal in number to the placentae. Fruit capsular or berried, with many-seeded cells, which 
are sometimes incomplete. Seeds often covered with a glutinous or resinous pulp ; *emhryo 
minute, near the hilum, lying in fleshy albumen ; radicle rather long ; cotyledons very 
short. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, without stipules, usually entire. Flowers 
terminal or axillary, sometimes polygamous. 
Affinities. Brown, in establishing this as an order, remarks that it is 
widely different from Rhamnacese or Celastracese, but without pointing out its 
real affinity ; De Candolle places it between Polygalacese and Frankeniaceae ; 
according to Achille Richard, the order is very near Rutaceae, to which he 
thinks it allied by a crowd of characters. The great mass of albumen in the 
seeds, the minute embryo, the general accordance of the flowers with the 
structure of Vitaceae, which is further established by the succulent fruit and 
climbing habit of Billardiera, seem to place Pittosporaceae here. As to Dille- 
niaceae, the decimate stamens and general habit of Cheiranthera form a transi- 
tion from Pittosporaceae to that order, at once of the most curious and the 
most satisfactory kind. 
Geography. Chiefly New Holland plants. A few are found in Africa 
and the adjacent islands, and one in Nipal. Brown remarks that Pittosporum 
itself has been found not only in New Holland, but also in New Zealand, 
Norfolk Island, the Society and Sandwich Islands, the Moluccas, China, Japan, 
and even Madeira. Flinders, 542. 
Properties. The wood of Senacia undulata is handsomely veined, whence 
it is called in the Mauritius Bois de joli coeur. DC. The berries of 
BiUardiera are eatable ; but they have a resinous odour, and a bitter subacrid 
taste. The bark of Pittosporum Tobira has a resinous smell. 
GENERA. 
Billardiera, Sm. Sollya, Lindl. Bursaria, Cav. Senacia, Comm. 
Pittosporum, Banks. Cheiranthera, A. C. Itea, Andr. 
Order XIX. OLACACE^. 
OLACINE.E, Mirb. Bull. Philom. n. 15.317. (1813); DC. Prodr. 1. 531. (1824) ; Bartl. Ord. 
Nat. p. 423. (1830.) 
Essential Character. — Calyx small, entire, or slightly toothed, finally becoming, in 
many cases, enlarged. Petals definite, hypogynous, valvate in aestivation, either altogether 
separate, or cohering in pairs by the intervention of stamens. Stamens definite, part fertile, 
part sterile; the former varying in number from 3 to 10, hypogynous, usually cohering 
with the petals, and alternate with them ; the latter opposite the petals, to which they in 
part adhere, their upper end resembling an appendage ; filaments compressed ; anthers in- 
nate, oblong, 2-celled, bursting longitudinally. Ovary superior, 1 -celled, with 3 ovules 
pendulous from the top of a central column or placenta. R. Br. Style filiform ; stigma 
simple. Fruit somewhat drupaceous, indehiscent, frequently surrounded by the enlarged 
calyx, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Seed pendulous; albumen large, fleshy; embryo small, in the 
base of albumen, its radicle near the hilum. — Trees or shrubs often spiny. Leaves simple, 
alternate, entire, without stipules; occasionally altogether wanting (rarely compound). 
Flowers small, axillary, often fragrant. 
Affinities. De Candolle places this order near Aurantiaceae, with which 
it agrees in many respects, differing, however, in the structure of the ovary, 
the want of a disk, the unsymmetrical flowers, &c. Jussieu, on the contrary 
regards its affinity as the strongest with Sapotaceae, considering the corolla 
as monopetalous. Brown considers the order nearly akin to Santalaceae. In 
reality its affinities are extremely uncertain. The probabihty is in favour of its 
