VlSCUM.] 
L0RANTHACEJ3. 
135 
flattened, \ in. long, in- broad, dilated into a minute cupule at the 
top, from which spring 2-6 minute flowers. Perianth-segments minute, 
deltoid, caducous. Ovary subsessile, turbinate, gj in. deep. 
Mauritius, in woods of the Ponce, chiefly on Nuxia. Seychelles, on Sider- 
oxylon , rare, Horne, 539 ! Also Bourbon, Cape. 
3. V. tcenioid.es, Comm . DC. ; Prod. iv. 282. Very near the last, of 
which it is scarcely more than a variety, differing by its much more 
robust broader joints, which are flattened and nearly \ inch broad. 
Flowers just the same, both in size and arrangement. 
Mauritius, in woods of the Pouce, etc., on Nuxia and Eugenia. Rodriguez, 
on Fernelia buxifolia in the valley of Riviere Baleine, Balfour ! Endemic. 
2. LORANTHUS, Linn. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary ; limb cam- 
panulate, truncate or obscurely toothed. Petals 4-6, joined together 
in a long tube that slits down the side, or finally separating low down. 
Stamens as many as the petals and opposite to them ; filaments adnate 
to the tube ; anthers erect, 2-celled. Ovary 1-celled ; style filiform ; 
stigma entire. Fruit a one-seeded berry. — Parasites, with alternate or 
opposite entire leaves and varied inflorescence. Distrib. Round the 
world in the tropics. Species 300. 
Lobes of corolla oblong 1. L. Bojeri. 
Lobes of corolla lanceolate 2. L. sechellensis. 
1. L. Bojeri, j Baker. Glabrous; branches grey, terete with short 
internodes. Leaves upper opposite, lower alternate, short-petioled, 
oblong, obtuse, cuneate at base, lf-3 in. long, very thick and rigid, 
obscurely triplinerved. Flowers in copious dense subsessile umbels in 
the axils of the leaves. Calyx i in. long, nearly cuneate, with a cupular 
bracteole at the base. Corolla under an inch long, naked, clavate, 
scarlet, with a green top, not gibbous at the base, splitting down one 
side to the base ; lobes 5, short, oblong. Anthers erect, oblong, T X Y in. 
long. L. indicus, Pojer , Hort Maur. 163, non Lam. 
Mauritius, in dense woods of Grand Bassin, Savanne, etc., parasitic on Eugenia. 
Near the Mascaren L. clavatus , Lam. Endemic. 
2. 1m, sechellensis, Baker. Glabrous ; branches grey, terete, dotted 
with rough raised Spots ; internodes an inch or more long. Leaves ob- 
long, very thick and rigid, 3-4 in. long, obtuse, obscurely penninerved, 
cuneately narrowed into a short petiole. Flowers few together in the 
axils of leaves, without common peduncle ; pedicel a in. long. Calyx \ 
in. deep, oblong-pentagonal, minutely bracteolate ; limb very short, 
entire, collar-like. Corolla bright red, \\-l\ in. long ; tube strongly 
pentagonal ; lobes lanceolate, \ in. long. Anthers ligulate, obtuse, £ in. 
long. 
Seychelles, frequent in woods above 800 feet, Horne , 671 ! Endemic. 
