Medusagyne . ] 
ternstr<ehiacea:. 
17 
fixed. Ovary depresso-globose, many-(17-24)-celled ; ovules 2, fixed 
at the middle of the placenta, one ascending, the other pendulous ; styles 
as many as the cells ; stigmas capitate. Fruit not seen. The only species. 
1. M. oppositifolia, Baker. A wide-spreading erect shrub, 3-6 feet 
high, glabrous in all its parts. Leaves opposite, short-petioled, oblong, 
lj-2 in. long, obtuse or emarginate, rigidly coriaceous, obscurely 
toothed, shining and minutely venulose above. Flowers in lax deltoid 
terminal panicles, 1^-2 in. long, which scarcely overtop the leaves ; 
pedicels slender, curved, f in. long, articulated at the base. Sepals sub- 
coriaceous, T V in. long. Petals oblong, rose-red, obtuse, £ i n - long. 
Stamens and styles included, the latter as long as the ovary, ascending 
or rather curved. 
Seychelles, in exposed places in Mahe, at an elevation of 1800 feet, Horne , 587 ! 
Endemic. 
Order XIV. DIPTEROCARPEiE. 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 5, persistent, 2 or more 
usually growing out very much to accompany the fruit. Petals 5, 
contorted. Stamens very various in number and position, the two 
lobes often unequal and the connective protruded. Ovary 3-celled ; 
ovules 2 in a cell ; style entire or nearly so. Fruit dry, indehiscent, 
or at last splitting into valves. Seed thick, exalbuminous. — Shrubs or 
trees, with alternate simple stipulate coriaceous leaves, the fragrant 
flowers in axillary and terminal panicles. Distrib. Nearly all east 
tropical Asian ; 3 known in tropical Africa. Species nearly 200. 
This order is represented in the Seychelles by a tree of which we have neither 
flowers nor fruit, but which in habit and leaf comes very near to Vateria ceylanica. 
Wight 111. i. 88, a native of Ceylon. It has short terete branches, marked all round 
by the scars of the fallen stipules, terete petioles 2-3 inches long, obovate- oblong ob- 
tuse or cuspidate glabrous coriaceous leaves 6-8 in. long, 4-5 inches broad at the 
middle, broadly rounded at the base, with about 20 strongly marked erecto-patent 
primary veins. The genus Vateria is marked in the order by a calyx, the lobes of 
which become reflexed, and do not augment as the fruit developes and by its 
numerous stamens. The following is Mr. Horne’s note upon the plant. “ A large 
lofty-growing tree, which in sheltered ravines frequently attains a height of from 
80 to 100 feet ; trunk from 4 to 6 feet in diameter, and often 40 to 60 feet to the first 
branch. When wounded, the sap forms an exceedingly inflammable resin, which was 
formerly used for incense. The tree yields a valuable timber, like that of Sal. in 
grain and colour. The tree is now becoming scarce, and large ones are only found 
near Port Glean, in very inaccessible parts of the forest, at elevations of 600 to 1000 
feet above sea-level. 
Order XV. MALVACEAE. 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx mostly subtended by an 
epicalyx of few or many bracts. Sepals 5, connate downwards, valvate 
in aestivation. Petals 5, hypogynous, adnate at the base to the 
staminal column, obtuse, twisted in aestivation. Stamens numerous, 
united in a long tube, which either bears anthers or is only toothed 
at the tip ; anthers reniform, 1-celled. Ovary many-celled, the 
carpels in a single whorl round the beaked centre of the torus; 
c 
