138 
No. 67. 
Siphonodon australe, Benth. 
The Ivory Wood. 
(Natural Order CELASTRACE^E.) 
Botanical description. —Genus, Siphonodon , Griffiths in Calcutta Journ. of Nat. 
Hist, iv, 150 (1844). 
Calyx .—5-cleft. 
Petals. —5, spreading. 
Disc .—Not distinct from the base of the calyx.* 
Stamens. —5, connivent round the pistil, the filaments flattened. 
Ovary .—Half immersed in the disc or base of the calyx, conical,! the summit hollowed and 
stigmatic in the cavity round a central style-like column • cells numerous, in 2 to 4 series ; 
ovules solitary in each cell, alternately ascending and pendulous. 
Drupe. —Globular,! hard-fleshy, with numerous 1-seeded bony pyrenes superposed in rings of 
about 10 round the central axis. 
Testa. —Of seed membranous; albumen almost horny ; cotyledons large, flat; radicle short. 
Glabrous trees. 
Leaves. —Alternate, entire or crenate. 
Stipules. —Minute, deciduous. 
Peduncles. —Short, axillary, few flowered. 
Botanical description. —Species, S. australe , Bentli., B.F1. i, 403 (1863). 
A tree of 40 feet or more. 
Leaves. —Obovate or broadly oblong, obtuse, 2 to 3 inches long, entire or slightly sinuate, 
coriaceous, drying of a pale colour so frequent in Celastracese. 
Flowers. —Few on axillary peduncles, usually short. 
Petals. —-Cuneate-orbicular, about 21,- lines long. 
Stam ens. —Short. 
Disc. —Thin, the sides free from the calyx, with 5 prominent teeth between the stamens. 
Peduncles .—Very short, bearing 1 or 2 fruits on pedicels of to f inch, as in S. celastrineus , 
Griff. 
Drupe .—Globular to pear-shaped or oval,§ | to 1 inch diameter, the flesh hard and dry, with a 
stigmatic scar at the top, and the scar of the calyx at the base, as in S. celastrineus. 
Nuts. —Numerous, appearing to have been arranged in 2 rows in each of 5 cells, irregularly 
ovoid, somewhat compressed, 3 to 4 lines long.|| 
Testa. —Of the seed brown ; albumen not very thick ; cotyledons broadly ovate. (B.F1. i, 403, 
except as to flowers, where the description has been taken from Moore and Betche’s “ Hand¬ 
book of the Flora of New South Wales,” confirmed with fresh specimens). 
* Distinct in Australian species. f Flattened in Australian species, though sub-conical. X Or pear-shaped. 
§ Globular in Flora Australiensis. 
II Bentham has a note : “ The ovary must probably be considered as 5-celled with many ovules in each cell, 
separated by spurious transverse dissepiments.” The word “ probably” may be eliminated. 
