31 
MVRSINE SEMISERRATA. 
Iribc, which were presented, two years ago, to the Wernerean Society of Edinburgh by 
the curator of his herbarium, that indefatigable and excellent botanist Mr. David Don. 
In general appearance it resembles an Exacum; but its flowers and fruit are those of a 
widely different family, and decidedly mark it as a member of the one, under w hich I 
have placed it. The structure of some parts of the flower and of the fruit is very pe¬ 
culiar and not easily explained. I will attempt to exhibit it in a clearer light, per¬ 
haps, than I have done above. The calyx forms a fleshy, inversed pyramid, with some¬ 
what convex sides, and sharp, rather prominent and almost straight angles; its mouth 
is four-sided, open, with slightly concave, naked margins, and protruding corners, which 
form four vertically compressed, fleshy teeth, acutely truncated and flattish at the 
apex, and there ciliated by two rows (one along each margin) of short, pellucid, subu¬ 
late, most spreading bristles, which sometimes continue from the point, whence the two 
rows diverge, a little way downwards on the sharp back of the teeth, towards the an¬ 
gles of the body of the calyx which, in every other respect, is perfectly free from hai¬ 
riness. The ovary is considerably shorter than the calyx, to the bottom of which its 
lower half is uniformly attached ; the remainder lias a pyramidal figure* with convex 
sides, and curved, obtuse margins, which are connected with the internal angles of the 
calyx, by means of four very narrow, short, and thin membranes, whereby four lateral 
hroadish cells arc formed, corresponding to the sides oi the calyx and the ovarium, in 
which the anthers are hidden by pairs, in their nodding state, during the aestivation of 
the flower. Its vertex is suddenly contracted into a short, quadrangular, truncated 
cone, consisting of four very short, fleshy, rounded, slightly uneven and ciliated lobes, 
w hich are parallel to its sides, having their margins closely applied to each other, and 
leaving an inversely pyramidal opening between them, into which the base of the style 
descends before it enters the axis of the ovary. In proportion as this latter increases 
in size, it rises above the mouth of the calyx, the above mentioned connecting mem¬ 
branes disappear, and its rounded angles become prominent ; in this state a double py¬ 
ramid is represented, the lower apex of which is supported by the peduncle, and the 
middle (or the opposed bases) is surrounded by the very narrow mouth of the calyx and 
its protruding angles; the upper, contracted and truncated apex is perforated. The 
capsule is dry, four-sided, smooth, marked round the middle by the withered teeth of 
the calyx, and crowned with the four lobes of the ovary, which have now become as 
many membranous, rounded, small wings; bursting at the vertex into four short valves, 
eac h having a dissepiment along the middle of the base and terminating into a wing. 
The situation of the cells is contrary to the direction of the wings; the seeds are very 
minute and numerous. 
MVRSINE SEMISERRATA, Wall in lloxb.flor. inch 2. p. 294. TAB. 21. 
Arborca, ereeta ; foliis extrorsum acute serrulatis, basi integerrimis ; Jloribus fascicu- 
latis, pedunculatis stylo brevi ; stigmate dimidiato, laciniato-fimbriato. 
Nomen Parbutteum et Newarrense : Bilsee ct Beresee; etiarn Kalikath. 
Communis in omnibus fere quas visitavi Napaliae sylvis, usque ad apices montium 
Chandaghiry et Sheopore, florens et fructifera tempore frigido, a Decembre -id Mar- 
lium. Etiam liabtii e Kuniaon et Sirinagur. 
Arbor ramosa, triginta ad quadraginta pedes alta, trunco diametrum semipedalem 
attingente, vestito cortice glabro, pallido. Rami cinerei, terestes, calloso-punctati; 
r a mult laeves, angulosi. Gemmce terminales, graeiles, conicae, punctis copiosis, rcsi- 
nosis, rul'escentibus eonspersae; squama' lanceolate. Folia sparsa, approximate, paten- 
tia. laneeoluta, nunc liueari-lanceolata, acuminata, utrinque attenuata, coriacea, firm a, tri¬ 
ad quinqucpollicaria, extrorsum, raroe basi usque ad apicem, nuuc uqo modo latere cus- 
