ULMACE2E. 
281 
tudinal dehiscence. Ovary in the Mauritian genera 1 -celled; ovule 
solitary, pendulous ; stigmas 2, sessile. Fruit 1-celled, with a solitary 
seed, fleshy or dry. Seed exalbuminous. — Shrubs or trees, with alter- 
nate petioled stipulate simple leaves and minute clustered or cymose 
flowers. Distrib. Cosmopolitan. Species 140. 
Perianth caducous. Stamens incurved in aestivation .... 1 . Celtis. 
Perianth persistent. Stamens suberect in aestivation .... 2. Sponia. 
1. CELTIS, Linn. 
Flowers polygamo-monoicous. Perianth 5-partite, the segments im- 
bricate, caducous. Stamens 5, inserted on the pilose disk round 
a rudimentary ovary ; filaments subulate, incurved m aestivation. 
Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, surrounded by the disk and imperfect sta- 
mens ; stigmas 2, subulate, deciduous. Fruit a fleshy drupe with a 
hard endocarp. — Trees or shrubs with triplinerved toothed or 
entire leaves and axillary inflorescence. Distrib. Cosmopolitan. 
Species 50. 
1. C. mauritiana. Planch, in Ann. Sc. Nat. 1848, 307 ; DC. Prod. 
xvii. 184. A tree, glabrous in all its parts, with slender terete branches. 
Leaves oblong, acuminate, entire, subcoriaceous, bright green, sub- 
equally deltoid at the base, triplinerved more than halfway up, with 
reticulated raised veinlets ; petiole in. long ; stipules small, lan- 
ceolate, caducous. Male flowers in small sessile or nearly sessile 
clusters in the axils of the leaves. Perianth segments in. long, 
oblong, obtuse, glabrous. Female flowers solitary on short pedicels 
with a similar perianth. Drupe broad ovoid, in. long. 
Mauritius, Gommerson ! Carmichael ! Also Bourbon, 
2. SPONIA, Commers. 
Flowers polygamo-monoicous. Perianth 5-partite, persistent, the seg- 
ments scarcely imbricated. Stamens 5, inserted on the disk round a more 
or less imperfect ovary ; filaments erect in bud, diverging in the ex- 
panded flower. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, surrounded by more or less 
imperfect stamens ; stigmas 2, subulate, diverging. Fruit a small 
drupe with thin flesh and a firm endocarp. j — Trees with tripli- 
nerved leaves with an unequal base and minute flowers in axillary 
cymes. Distrib. Tropics of both hemispheres. Species 20. 
1. S. orientalis. Planch, in Ann. Sc. Nat. 1848, 323 ; DC. Prod. 
xvii. 200. An unarmed tree, reaching a height of 40-50 feet, with 
strigose terete branchlets. Leaves subcoriaceous, green and scabrous 
above, clothed with thin white silky pubescence beneath, ovate, acute, 
3-4 in. long, denticulate, unequal at the base, broadly cordate on the 
upper side and merely rounded on the lower, triplinerved more than 
halfway up with several other distinct ribs parallel with two first side 
ones ; petiole in. long. Flowers in dense subsessile cymes in. 
