Pl. 36.
J. Fleischmann del.
Opilia amentacea Roxb.
A Flowering branch. B Flower. C Flower cut lengthwise.
[FAMILY 57.] OPILIACEAE
Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers in spikes, racemes or umbels, regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx (or calyx-like excrescence of the receptacle) entire or obscurely 4-5-toothed. Petals (or perianth-segments) 4-5, free. Stamens equal in number and opposite to them, free or adnate at the base. Disc present. Ovary superior or nearly so, 1-celled, with a thick central placenta. Ovule 1, pendulous from the apex of the placenta, with no coat. Style simple. Fruit succulent. Seed without a testa; albumen abundant; embryo large, with superior radicle.—Genera 2, species 15. (Under OLACINEAE.) (Plate 35.)
Axis of the inflorescence with cushion-shaped swellings at the base of the pedicels. Flowers in short racemes or umbels. Receptacle broad, cupular. Disc lobed. Petals with inflected tips. Filaments short.
Anthers broad.—Species 5. Central Africa. Rhopalopilia Pierre
Axis of the inflorescence without swellings. Flowers in racemes. Receptacle small.—Species 10. Central Africa to Delagoa Bay. (Groutia Guill. &
Perr., including Urobotrya Stapf). (Plate 35.) Opilia Roxb.
[FAMILY 58.] GRUBBIACEAE
Shrubs. Leaves opposite, narrow, entire, leathery. Inflorescences axillary, cymose. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Perianth 4-partite, with sepaloid, valvate segments. Stamens 8, almost free from the perianth. Anthers 2-celled. Ovary inferior, 1-celled or at first incompletely 2-celled. Ovules 2, pendulous from a central or subparietal placenta, straight, with no coat. Style simple; stigma 2-lobed. Fruit a drupe. Seed 1, with a thin testa and fleshy albumen; embryo straight, with inferior radicle. (Under SANTALACEAE or HAMAMELIDACEAE.)