Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/610

596 inserta, petalis breviora. Filamenta 5 antherifera cum petalis alternantia, prope basin disci inserta: 5 sterilia petalis opposita, breviora, in disco paulo altius imposita: omnia glabra compresso-filiformia conniventia: Antheræ conniventes ovato-cordatæ acuminatæ glabræ flavicantes, juxta basin affixæ, loculis appositis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus: Pollen flavum globosum læve. Discus hypogynus ovarium laxè circumdans, brevis glaber cyathiformis decemplicatus subcrenatus. Ovarium liberum sessile depresso-globosum viride, tuberculis confertissimis obtusis undique tectum, villisque rarioribus tenuibus pubescens, 5-loculare: Stylus simplex erectus glaber obtusè 5-gonus: Stigma peltatum altè 5-lobum. Capsula lignea oblonga obtusa fere 3-uncialis, basi calyce minimo persistenti subtensa, undique echinata processubus suberoso-ligneis confertis subconicis, 5-partibilis, segmentis cymbiformibus, tandem ab apice semibifidis et siccatione sæpe transversim fissis, basibus ante dehiscentiam adnexis axi centrali brevi demum libero et persistenti. Placenta centralis longitudinaliter alte 5-loba, efformans Dissepimenta quinque longitudine capsulæ, cum segmentis alternantia ideoque eorum cavitates bipartientia, ante dehiscentiam margine interiore connexa, demum soluta, dimidiato-oblonga plana spongioso-lignea, versus dorsum obtusum sensim crassiora, margine interiore in aciem attenuata, utrinque disperma, et insignita lineis duabus alternis a margine interiore arenatim descendentibus et paulo intra dorsum desinentibus. Semina erecta, funiculo brevi compresso paulo supra basin marginis exterioris inserta, plano-convexa, apice in alam membranaceam planam uninervem ipso nucleo subovato sesquilongiorem desinentia. Integumentum simplex coriaceum basi lateribusque spongioso-incrassatis. Albumen nullum. Embryo dicotyledoneus albus: Cotyledones transversæ crasso-foliaceæ aveniæ: Radicula prope medium marginis interioris seminis transversa, brevissima, sinu baseos cotyledonum inclusa, ab umbilico remota.

Obs. There can be very little doubt that Arbor Radulifera of the Herbarium amboinense (3. p. 201, t. 129.) belongs to Flindersia, not only from the external appearance of the capsule as exhibited in the figure, but from the description given by Rumpf of its dehiscence, as well as of the peculiar dissepiments and the structure of the seeds.

The affinities of this genus are not perhaps very evident. I have referred it to Cedreleæ, an order certain genera of which are annexed by Jussieu to Meliaceæ, but which I have separated from that family chiefly on account of the structure of the fruit, and of the winged seeds. Flindersia, however, does not agree with the other genera of Cedreleæ either in the insertion of its seeds or dehiscence of its capsule: and it appears to differ from them remarkably in its moveable dessepiments; but these may be considered as the segments of a common placenta, having a peculiar form,