30 
STERCULIACEiE. 
[Trochetia. 
or brownish tomentum. Leaves broad-oblong or obovate-oblong, entire 
or obscurely crenate, 3-6 inches long, firm, smooth, subacute, rather 
cordate at the base ; petiole |-1 inch long. Peduncles much de- 
flexed, longer than the petioles, 1-flowered. Sepals lanceolate, an 
inch long. Petals very broad, rather longer than the sepals- Staminal- 
column \ inch long, the anthers sessile at its top. 
Mauritius, in dense forests round Grand Bassin and Trois Mamelles, Blaclzkurn ! 
Endemic. 
4. T. parviflora, Bojer, Hort. Maur. 41 {name only). A much- 
branched low shrub, with lepidote brown pubescence, much thinner than 
in T. uniflora and T. triflora. Leaves oblong, entire, 1-1^ inch long, firm ; 
obtuse, scabrous above, rather rounded at the base, thinly scurfy beneath; 
petiole i inch long. Peduncles erect, 3-flowered, longer than the 
petioles. Sepals lanceolate, inch long, densely scurfy on the back. 
Petals broad, not longer than the sepals. Staminal cup very short ; 
staminodia not overtopping the 10 stalked anthers. Ovary globose, 
densely lepidote. 
Mauritius, in high woods of the Pouce, Bojer ; Ayres ! Endemic. 
# Guazwna tomentosa , H.B.K ; DC. Prod. i. 485, a native of tropi- 
cal America, now' widely spread in the Old World, is established near 
Port Louis and in other parts of Mauritius. It is a shrub, with 
branches, calyx, petioles, peduncles and leaves below clothed with 
thick pale brown tomentum, petioled alternate serrate ovate-cuspidate 
simple leaves, with a very unequal cordate base, copious minute 
flowers in axillary cymes, 2-3 deltoid sepals, 5 obovate petals bifid at 
the tip, staminal cup with 5 barren lobes and 3 fertile filaments in each 
sinus, and a hard oblong rugose capsule, as large as a hazel-nut. 
5. MELOCHIA, Linn. 
Sepals lanceolate, united at the base. Petals 5, oblong-spathulate, 
exceeding the sepals. Stamens 5, opposite the petals, connate at the 
base ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 0. Ovary 5-celled ; ovules 2 ; 
styles 5, diverging. Capsule membranous, dehiscing loculicidally, 
the carpels separating from the axis. Seed solitary in each cell. — An- 
nuals (our species) with thin leaves and clustered small flowers. Dis- 
teib. Species 50, mostly American. 
1. M. corchorifolia, Linn. A simple or branched annual herb, 
1-3 feet high, with nearly glabrous stems and petioles. Leaves thin, 
green, ovate, acute, inciso-crenate, 1-3 inches long. Plowers in dense 
mostly terminal heads, mixed with copious linear densely ciliated 
bracteoles. Sepals -§- inch, lanceolate. Petals twice as long as the 
sepals, white or reddish. Capsule fragile, pilose, £ inch thick. Bied- 
leia corchorifolia, DC. Drod. i. 491. B. capitata, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 
38. 
Mauritius, a common weed by roadsides and in cultivated ground. Everywhere 
in tropics of Old World. Berbc a balais. 
* M . pyramidata , Linn, a native of tropical America, is naturalised 
