Roydsia
(named by Dr. Roxburgh in honour of Sir John Royds, "one of the Puisne Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Bengal, and an eminent benefactor to the Science"). ORD. Capparideae. A small genus (two species) of stove shrubs, natives of the East Indies and the Philippine Islands. Flowers yellow, small, fragrant, axillary and in terminal panicles; sepals six, coloured, imbricated or sub-valvate; petals none; torus short; stamens very numerous; pedicels bibracteate at base. Fruit red, olive-shaped. Leaves ample, shortly petiolate, simple, oblong, exstipulate. R. suaveolens, the only species introduced, is a rather coarse, rambling bush, well worth cultivating for its delicious fragrance by those who can give it space enough: it is not suited for small houses. The plant thrives in good, rich, loamy soil, and may be readily increased by cuttings of the young wood.
R. suaveolens (sweet-scented). fl. numerous, 3/4in. in diameter, fragrant; stamens about 100, spreading; racemes axillary, or rather above the axils, 3in. to 7in. long, solitary or in terminal panicles. January to May. fr. 1in. to 1 1/2in. long. l. alternate, 4in. to 12in. long, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, rarely oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, entire, shining, pale beneath; petioles 1/3in. to 1/2in. long. East Indies. (B. M. 6881.)