Ery thro sper mum •] 
BIXACEiE. 
11 
spreading or ascending, §-l in., with a minute bract at the base. 
Perianth and stamens caducous. Sepals obovate, | in. long. 
Stamens included. Ovary usually grey-canescent. Fruit globose, 
hard, rugose, £-1 in. thick, finally dehiscing. 
" Mauritius, in mountain woods. Also Madagascar, if not a distinct species. Bois 
Manioc. Bois Coclxon. A variable plant, of which the following are the principal 
varieties, connected by intermediate forms, 
1 . pyrifolium (E. pyrifolium, Lam. III. t. 274, fig. 1 . E. ellipticum and panicu- 
latum, Poir. E. pauciflorum, Thouars. E. polymorphum, Clos). Leaves all alter- 
nate, 2-4 in. long, obtuse or acute, oblong or obovate-oblong, short-petioled. Racemes 
4-8-flowered, subcorymbose. E. laxiflorum, Clos , is a form with naked ovary. 
2. erythryoxyloides (Bojer, Hort. Maur. 19, as a species). Leaves all alternate, 
small, at most 2-3 in. long, thinner in texture than in the last, distinctly petioled. 
Flowers 3-4 in a lax corymb, shorter than the leaves. 
3. amplexicaule (E. amplexicaule, DC.) inflorescence of var. 1, but leaves closer, 
oblong, sessile, obscurely cordate-amplexicaul. 
4. ampli folium (E. amplifolium, Thouars; E. macrophyllum, Poir ; E. longifolium, 
Bojer). A luxuriant sylvestral form, with alternate short-petioled obovate-oblong 
leaves 6-9 in. long, long-cuneate at the base, and many flowers in lax racemes 
3-4 in. long. E. acuminatum, Bojer , connects this with var. 1. 
5. verticillatum (E. verticillatum, Lam. ; E. monticolum, Thouars). A much-branched 
form of exposed places, with small obtuse rigid subsessile leaves, congested at the 
nodes, and few corymbose or subumbellate flowers. 
6. Carmichaelii. Leaves oblong, acute, in 2-6-nate spaced spreading groups, ob- 
scurely cordate-amplexicaul ; flowers in short sparse racemes. Discovered by Capt. 
Carmichael. 
2. LUDIA, Lam. 
Sepals 5-6, oblong, imbricated. Petals 0. Stamens very numero us, 
hypogynous ; filaments long, filiform ; anthers minute, oblong, 2-celled. 
Ovary sessile, ampullseform ; placentas 2-4 ; style produced ; stigm as 
2-4 ; ovules numerous. Fruit many-seeded, hard, usually indehiscen t. 
Seeds few, albuminous. Distrib. A single species, confined to th e 
Mascaren Isles and Zanguebar. 
• 
1. L. sessiliflora, Lam. ; DC. Prod. i. 261. An erect glabrous 
shrub, 8-12 feet high. Leaves alternate, short-petioled, entire, 1-3 in. 
long, oblong or lanceolate, rigidly coriaceous, green, rather shining, 
venulose ; base cuneate. Flowers 1 or many, sessile or short-pedi- 
celled in the axils o£ the leaves. Sepals i in., reflexed. Stamens 
longer than the sepals, persistent. Style ^ in., straight or oblique, as 
long as ovary. Fruit globose, in. thick, tipped with the persistent 
style. L. myrtifolia, Lam. ; DC. loc. cit. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, in woods. Rodriguez, only on the coralline limestone 
of the south-west and east ends of the island, Dr. Balfour. Also Zanguebar and 
Bourbon. — The Bourbon L. myrtifolia , Lam., is identical with the Mauritian plant. 
L. heterophylla , Lam., seems founded on specimens with abnormal leaves, some en- 
tire and obovate, others spinose-dentate ; and L. bivalvis , Clos, in Ann. Sc. Nat. 
ser. iv. vol. 8, p. 244, on specimens in which the fruit has split open into two valves. 
Prunier Marron (Seych.), like Flacourtia Bamontchi. 
