MYRSINA-CEJS. 
189 
cut down to a very short tube. Stamens inserted in the short corolla 
opposite its lobes ; filaments short ; anthers basifixed, 2-celled, 
dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary sessile, 1-celled, with a free central 
placenta ; ovules peltate, few or many ; style short cylindrical ; stigma 
capitate or lobed. Fruit a small pea-like drupe, often 1-seeded ; 
albumen horny. — Shrubs with alternate exstipulate entire coriaceous 
leaves dotted with black glands and terminal or axillary inflorescence. 
Distrib. Tropics of both hemispheres. Species 500. 
Climber with terminal inflorescence 1 . Embelia. 
Erect shrubs with axillary inflorescence. 
Flowers in crowded fascicles from the leafless part of 
the branches . 2. Myrsine. 
Flowers in racemes or panicles from the axils of the 
leaves 3. Ardisia. 
1. EMBELIA, Burm. 
Flowers polygamous or hermaphrodite, mostly pentamerous. Calyx 
minute, deeply cut. Corolla-lobes oblong, imbricated in bud. Stamens 
inserted at the bottom of the corolla ; filaments very short. Ovary 
ovoid, 1-celled, with 1-4 ovules on a basilar placenta ; style cylindrical, 
simple ; stigma capitate. Fruit a small globose 1-seeded drupe. — 
Climbers with minute flowers in terminal panicles. Distrib. 
Tropics of the Old World. Species about 50. 
1. E. micrantha, A. DC. Prod . viii. 81. A climbing shrub, with 
slender terete branches. Leaves distinctly petioled, oblong, 3-4 in. 
long, obtuse or subacute, cuneate at the base, subcoriaceous, glabrous. 
Flowers in dense racemes, forming decompound deltoid terminal 
panicles, with brown tomentose branches ; pedicels very short. 
Calyx pilose, cut down nearly to the base. Bud globose. Corolla 
in. long, cut down nearly to the base. Badula scandens, Bojer , Port. 
Maur. 196. 
Mauritius, in the hill-forests of the southern half of the island. Endemic. 
Liane Poilly. 
2. MYRSINE, Linn. 
Flowers polygamous or hermaphrodite, usually pentamerous. Calyx 
minute, with round spreading lobes. Corolla rotate, the lobes 
oblong, obtuse, imbricated in bud. Stamens 5, inserted in the very 
short corolla-tube; filaments very short. Ovary globose, 1-celled; 
ovules few, on a round placenta ; style cylindrical, very short ; stigma 
various. Fruit a 1-seeded pea-like drupe. — Shrubs, with alternate 
entire coriaceous leaves, the flowers in crowded fascicles from the old 
branches. Distrib. Round the world in the tropics. Species 80. 
