120 
MYETACE^E. 
[. Barringtonia . 
3. B. acutangula, Gartn. Fruct. ii. 97, tf. 101. A tall tree, glabrous 
in all its parts. Leaves crowded towards the end of the branches, oblan- 
ceolate-oblong, thin, subcoriaceous, penninerved, distinctly toothed, 
4-8 in, long, sessile, narrowed through the lower half. Flowers in 
lax pendulous peduncled racemes reaching a foot long ; pedicels some- 
times exceediug the calyx, which is £ in. long, with 4 obtuse teeth 
exceeding the ribbed obconic tube. Expanded flower £ in. broad, the 
stamens not longer than the sepals. Fruit oblong, 1\ in. long, acutely 
quadrangular. Stravadium album, rubrum, and coccineum, DC. 
Seychelles, Bojer. Not seen by Mr. Horne. Australia and Tropical Asia. 
3. FCETIDIA, Comm. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, regular. Calyx-tube obconic, 4-angled ; 
limb large, slit to the base into four valvate acute coriaceous per- 
sistent lobes. Petals none. Stamens very numerous, epigynous ; 
filaments filiform ; anthers oblong. Ovary inferior, 4-celled, with 2 
ovules in a cell ; style filiform ; stigma 4-cleft. Fruit obconic, woody, 
with a large square flat disk at the top, crowned by the accrescent 
spreading calyx teeth. Seeds subglobose, 1-2 in a cell. — Trees with 
alternate undotted coriaceous leaves and solitary flowers in the axils of 
the leaves. Disteib. Endemic in the Mascaren isles. Species 3. 
1. F. mauritiana, Lam. III. t. 419. A tree 20-40 feet high, gla- 
brous in all its parts, with stout terete branches marked with the scars 
of fallen leaves. Leaves crowded, sessile, obovate or oblanceolate- 
oblong, 4-6 in. long, obtuse or cuspidate, coriaceous, with immersed 
veins and a broad flat midrib. Flowers solitary, on short pedicels in 
the axils of the leaves. Square flat disk of the top of the fruit f 
in. broad; spreading coriaceous lanceolate-deltoid acute calyx teeth 
f-1 in. long. Stamens shorter than the calyx-teeth. DC. Prod. 
iii. 295. 
Mauritius, once frequent in the woods, now becoming rare. Rodriguez, common. 
Bouton ! Balfour ! Bois puant. 
Order XL VI. MELASTOMACE.ZE. 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx wholly or partially adnate 
to the ovary ; limb entire or 4-5-lobed. Petals 4-5. Stamens twice 
as many as the petals ; anthers often dissimilar, with the connective 
variously produced and spurred, 2-celled, basifixed, opening by 1 or 2 
pores at the tip. Ovary usually 5-celled, with axile placentation and 
indefinite ovules, in Memecylon 1-celled, with free central placentation 
and few' ovules ; style filiform ; stigma simple. Fruit baccate or 
capsular, splitting irregularly or loculicidally. Seeds exalbuminous. — 
Herbs or shrubs, with opposite exstipulate entire leaves, usually distinctly 
nerved from tip to base ; inflorescence various ; flowers often showy, 
purple. Disteib. Pound the world in the tropics, especially in America. 
Species 1800. 
