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Sub-Order HIPPOCRATEiE. 
HiPPOCRATiCEiE, Juss. Ann. Mus. 18.483. (1811). — HipPOCRATEACEi®, in Humb. 
N. G. Am. 5. 136. (1821) ; DC. Prodr. 1. 567. (1829). 
Essential Character. — Sepals 5, very seldom 4 or 6, very small, combined as far as 
the middle, persistent. Petals 5, very seldom 4 or 6, equal, hypogynous ? somewhat im- 
bricated in aestivation. Stamens 3, very seldom 4 or 5 ; filaments cohering almost as far as 
the apex into a tube dilated at the base, and forming about the ovary a thick disk-like cup ; 
anthers 1 -celled, opening transversely at the apex, 2- or even 4-celled. Ovary concealed 
by the tube, 3 -cornered, distinct ; style 1 ; stigmas 1-3 ; ovules erect. Fruit either consist- 
ing of 3 samaroid carpels, or berried with from 1 to 3 cells. Seeds in each cell 4, or more, 
but definite, attached to the axis in pairs, some of them occasionally abortive, erect, with- 
out albumen j embryo straight ; radicle pointing towards the base ; cotyledons fiat, ellip- 
tical oblong, somewhat fleshy, cohering when dried. — ^Arborescent or climbing shrubs, 
which are almost always smooth. Leaves opposite, simple, entire or toothed, somewhat 
coriaceous. Racemes axillary, in corymbs or fascicles, flowers small, not shewy. 
Affinities. The ternary number of the stamens, along with the quinary 
number of the petals and sepals, is the prominent characteristic of this sub - 
order, which was formerly included in Aceracese by Jussieu, which is placed 
between Erythoxylese and Marcgraaviaceae by De Candolle, but which is, to 
all appearance, much more nearly related to Celastracese, as Brown has re- 
marked ; for “ the insertion of the ovules is either towards the base, or is 
central ; the direction of the radicle is always inferior.” Brown, Congo, 427. 
In fact there seems to be nothing to divide Hippocratese from Celastracese ex- 
cept the cohesion of the filaments of the former into a cup. The samaroid 
fruit, which is so remarkable, and which connects the order with Malpighia- 
cese, is not universal, but merely characteristic of certain genera. In Hippo- 
cratea ovata the testa and cotyledons are furnished in the inside with innume- 
rable trachea-like threads ; the same economy has been remarked by Du Petit 
Thouars in the pericai*p of Calypso. DC. Prodr. 1 . 567. The only similar cases 
of this curious structure with which I am acquainted are in Collomia, in which I 
have detected it {Bot. Reg. fol. 1166.), and in Casuarina, in which it has been 
described : plants having no apparent affinity with Hippocratese. 
Geography. The principal part are South American, about 1 -seventh are 
natives' of Africa or the Mauritian Islands, and the same number has been re- 
corded as East Indian. 
Properties. The fruit of Tonsella (Salacia) pyriformis, a native of Sierra 
Leone, is eatable. It is about the size of a Bergamot Pear ; its flavour is rich 
and sweet. Hort, Trans. The nuts of Hippocratea comosa are oily and sweet. 
Swartz. 1. 78. 
Hippocratea, L. 
Anthodon, R. et P. 
Anthodus, Mart. 
Raddisia, Leand. 
GENERA. 
Salacia, L. 
Tontelea, Aubl. 
Johnia, Roxb. 
Tonsella, Schreb. 
Sicelium, P.Browi 
Lacepedea, H. B. K. 
Triceraja, Willd. 
Calypso, Thouars. 
Sub-Order. TRIGONIEJS. 
Trigoniace^. Martius Conspectus, No. 247. (1835). 
The idea of this sub- order (?), which contains at present but the single 
genus Trigonia, originated with Cambessedes, who, in referring {FI. Bras, 
merid. 2. 113) it to Hippocratese, instead of Polygalacese, considers it destined 
to become the type of a new order, alhed on the one hand to Hippocrateae, and 
on the other to Leguminosse, with which it has great relationship on account 
of tiie number and relative position of the parts of the flower. Von Martius., 
