Nauclea
(from naus, a ship, and kleio, to inclose; in reference to the hull-shaped half capsule). ORD. Rubiaceae. A rather large genus (about thirty species) of stove trees and shrubs, frequently very glabrous, natives of tropical Asia and Oceania. Flowers yellow, sessile, arranged in globose, compact, rarely bracteate, solitary or paniculate, often large heads. Leaves alternate, often large, sessile or petiolate; stipules rather large, intrapetiolar, deciduous. The species are of easy culture in a compost of loam, sand, and peat. Propagated by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, inserted in sandy loam, under a glass, in heat.
N. Adina (Adina). fl.-heads globular; corolla funnel-shaped; calyx superior, five-cleft; segments linear, thickened at the point, green; peduncles solitary, at first terminal, but, by the shooting out of a young branch from the same part, becoming afterwards axillary. l. opposite, on short petioles, smooth, shining, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, with an obtuse point, quite entire, with oblique, nearly parallel veins strongly marked on the under side. Branches villous. China. An upright shrub. (B. M. 2613.) The correct name of this plant is Adina globifera.
N. coadunata (united-capsuled). See Sarcocephalus cordatus. N. purpurea (purple). fl., corolla purple, with spreading lobes; calyx-limb hirsute, with calvate segments; peduncles terminal, solitary, or in threes. May. l. petiolate, oval-oblong, acute or acuminated at both ends, smooth and shining, 4in. to 9in. long. h. 15ft. India, 1820. Small tree. N. undulata (undulated). fl. yellow, fragrant, in large and very beautiful globular heads; peduncles drooping, terminal, solitary. May. l. petiolate, ovate-oblong, obtuse, undulated, shining. Branches brachiate. h. 20ft. Moluccas, 1820. Tree.