Bæckia, to which I refer Imbricaria of Dr. Smith, as well as the opposite-leaved Leptospermums, is also an extensive Australian genus, having its maximum in the principal parallel, extending like the two former genera to the highest southern latitude, and hardly existing within the tropic: one species, however, has been found in New Caledonia, and that from which the genus was formed is a native of China.
COMBRETACEÆ.[1] I have formerly[2] made some remarks on the structure and limits of Combretaceæ, one of whose principal characters consists in the unilocular ovarium with two or more ovula simply pendulous from the upper, part of its cavity, and not inserted, as in Santalaceæ, into a central receptacle or column. Guiera of Jussieu, having the same structure, and also leaves dotted with pellucid glands, appears to connect this order with Myrtaceæ.
The Australian Combretaceæ, which belong to Terminalia, Chuncoa, and Laguncularia, are not numerous, and all of them are found within the tropic.
CUNONIACEÆ[3]. This order, several of whose genera have been referred to Saxifrageæ, is more readily distinguished from that family by its widely different habit, than by any very important characters in its fructifi-- ↑ Combretaceæ. Calyx superus: limbo 4-5-fido, æquali. Petala 4-5. vel nulla. Stamina 8-10; quandoque laciniis calycis æqualia et cum iisdem alternantia. Ovarium uniloculare, ovulis 2-4, ab apice loculi pendulis absque receptaculo communi vel columna centrali: Stylus 1: Stigma 1. Pericarpium monospermum, clausum, figura et textura varium, Drupa v. Samara. Semen exalbuminosum. Embryo cotyledonibus sæpius involutis: plumula inconspicua.
Arbores vel Frutices. Folia simplicia, integra, exstipulata, alterna nunc opposita, raro punctato-pellucida. Flores spicati, axillares. - ↑ Prodr fl. nov. Holl. 351.
- ↑ Cunoniaceæ. Calyx 1-ph. 4-5-fidus, semisuperus vel inferus. Petala 4-5; rarò nulla. Stamina perigyna, definita, 8-10. Ovarium biloculare, loculis 2-polyspermis: Stylus 1-2. Pericarpium biloculare, capsulare vel clausum. Embryo in axi albuminis carnosi.
Arbores vel Frutices. Folia opposita, composita vel simplicia, sæpius stipulata stipulis interpetiolaribus.
