Astiria.'] 
STERCFLIACEJE. 
27 
contorted, marcescent. Staminal cup short, bearing 20 fertile anthers 
and no staminodes. Ovary 5-celled ; ovules 2 in each cell ; styles 5, 
free, clavate. Capsule loculicidal, with one seed in each cell. — A. 
single endemic species, with the habit of Dombeya. 
1. A. rosea, Lindl. Bot. Beg, 1844, t. 49. A shrub 12-15 feet 
high, with thick quadrangular branches. Leaves round, deeply cordate, 
6-9 in. long and broad, subentire, obscurely 3-lobed, firm, thin, pubescent 
beneath ; tip deltoid ; petiole 3-5 in. long, rough with short ferru- 
ginous bristly hairs, like the peduncles, pedicels, and sepals. Pedun- 
cles as long as petioles. Inflorescence a bifid cyme ; pedicels once or 
twice the length of calyx, very rough, as are the lanceolate sepals. 
Petals i in. long, obovate, rather exceeding the sepals. Styles free to 
the base. Ovary densely clothed with brown bristly hairs. Dombeya 
astrapseoides, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 40 . 
Mauritius, in forests of Grand Bassin and Trou aux Cerfs, Bojer ; Bouton ! 
Endemic. 
3. DOMBEYA, Cav. 
Epicalyx unilateral, of 3 unequal bracteoles. Calyx divided nearly 
to base into 5 lanceolate segments. Petals 5, obversely deltoid, per- 
sisting and becoming scariose. Staminal column bearing 5 ligulate 
staminodes, with usually 3 fertile anthers between each ; anthers 2- 
celled. Ovary 5-celled; ovules 2, ascending ; styles 5, free or connate 
downwards. Capsule 5-lobed, hard, 5-celled, umbilicate at the apex. — 
Shrubs with alternate petioled leaves and flowers in peduncled axillary 
umbels or bifid cymes. Distrib. Species 20-25. Confined to con- 
tinental Africa and the Mascaren Isles. 
Flowers in bifid cymes. 
Corolla large 1. D. acutangula. 
Corolla small. Peduncles naked 2. D. populnea. 
Corolla small. Peduncles tomentose 3. D. ferruginea. 
Flowers in simple umbels. 
Corolla large. Leaves smooth above 4. D. umbellata. 
Corolla small. Leaves scabrous above 5. D. punctata. 
1. D. acutangula, Cav.; DC. Prod. i. 498. A low tree or shrub, 
with leaves crowded at the end of the branches Leaves thin, round- 
cordate, subglabrous, 3-4 in. broad, with 3-5 incised shallow broad or 
deep narrow palmate lobes ; petiole 2-3 in. long, glabrous or pilose. 
Peduncles as long as the petioles, densely pilose as are the pedicels, 
bracts, and calyx. Inflorescence a bifid cyme ; pedicels shorter or 
louger than calyx ; bracteoles large, ovate, caducous. Sepals \ in. 
long, reflexed when the flower opens. Petals \ in. long, oblique-obovate, 
white or reddish. Stamens 18, shorter than the ligulate staminodes. 
Ovary densely tomentose ; styles free at the top only. 
Mauritius, frequent on the Pouce. Rodriguez, in the valley of the Riviere de 
l’Est, Balfour ! Also Bourbon. Z>. palmata , Cav., Wall. PI. Asiat. Rar. t. 235, is 
