74 
petals ; besides which the plants of the Theal alliance have in all cases alternate 
leaves, wdiich are very often serrated. The Cistal alliance is scarcely distin- 
guishable by any single character beyond the presence of albumen, and yet the 
orders it comprehends are in reality very peculiar. 
Order LV. GUTTIFER^, 1 
or \ The Mangosteen Tribe. 
CLUSIACE^.J 
GuTTiFERiE, Juss. Gen. 243. (1789) ; DC. Prodr. 1. 557. (1824) ; Cambesscdes 
Memoire (1828). 
Essential Character. — Flowers hermaphrodite, or unisexual. Sepals from 2 to 6, 
usually persistent, round, membranous, and imbricated, frequently unequal and coloured. 
Petals hypogynous, from 4 to 10, passing insensibly into sepals. Stamens numerous, either 
distinct, or combined in one or more parcels, hypogynous, rarely definite ; filaments of 
various lengths; anthers adnate, bursting inwards, sometimes very small, occasionally 
bursting outwards, sometimes 1 -celled, and sometimes opening by a pore. Disk fleshy, 
occasionally 5-lobed. Ovary solitary, superior, 1- or many-celled; ovules solitary, erect, or 
ascending, or numerous and attached to central placentae ; style none, or very short; stigma 
peltate, or radiate. Fruit either dry or succulent, 1- or many-celled, 1- or many-seed®d, 
dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds frequently nestling in pulp ; their coat thin and membra- 
nous ; always apterous, very frequently with an aril ; albumen none ; embryo straight ; 
cotyledons thick, inseparable ; radicle either turned to or from the hilum. — Trees or shrubs, 
occasionally parasitical, yielding resinous juice. Leaves without stipules, opposite, very 
rarely alternate, coriaceous, entire, with a strong midrib, and often with the lateral veins 
running through to the margin. Flowers usually numerous, axillary, or terminal, white, 
pink, or red, articulated with their peduncle. 
Anomalies. Havetia has the anthers immersed in a fleshy receptacle. The ovary of 
Calophylleae is 1 -celled, and the petals opposite the sepals. 
Affinities. In treating of Ternstromiacese use has been made of the 
excellent memoir of Cambessedes for the purpose of explaining the affinities of 
that order v/ith this ; and the following comparisons are drawn from the same 
source. European botanists are much in want of good observations upon liv- 
ing plants of Guttiferse, and there is no order that is more in need of elucida- 
tion from some skilful Indian botanist than this. Cambessedes remarks, that 
Guttiferse differ from Hypericacese in their branches, their leaves, and their 
articulated peduncles ; in the normal number of the parts of their flowers, 
which appears to be two and its multiples, instead of five, which obtains in 
Hypericacese ; in their anthers united the whole length with the filament, and 
not articulated at its summit ; in their seeds, which often have an aril, and are 
solitary in each cell of the ovary, a character found in no Hypericacese (the 
monospermous cells of the fruit of some Vismias is due to abortion) ; finally, in 
the structure of the embryo, which is different in the two orders. Hypericiu- 
cese, moreover, have the carpels often nearly distinct. Marcgraaviaceae are 
distinguished by their alternate leaves, the singular form of their lower bracts, 
their petals fi'equently united, their unsymmetrical flowers, and by their seeds 
being very small, and exceedingly numerous. Royle remarks that Guttiferse 
are in some respects allied to Ebenacese, as may be seen by comparing species 
of Garcinia with some species of Diospyrus. Illustr. p. 132. 
Geography. All natives of the tropics, the greater part of South Ame- 
rica ; a few are from Madagascar, none from the continent of Africa. They 
generally require situations combining excessive heat and humidity. 
Properties. The species all abound in a viscid, yellow, acrid, and pur- 
gative gum-resinous juice resembling Gamboge. Tliis gum-resin is obtained 
by removing the bark or by breaking the leaves and young shoots. Two 
kinds of Gamboge are known in Indian bazaars ; one the best, is the produce 
