Royena
(named by Linnaeus, in honour of Adrian Van Royen; he and his son David were successively professors of Botany at Leyden). ORD. Ebenaceae. A genus comprising thirteen species of greenhouse shrubs or trees, natives of tropical and southern extra-tropical Africa. Flowers axillary, pedunculate, solitary or rarely few in a fascicle or three to five in a cyme; calyx five, rarely four, parted or toothed; corolla urceolate or campanulate, with five, rarely four, twisted, reflexed lobes. Fruit globose, ovoid or oblong. Leaves sessile or shortly petiolate. The species possess but little beauty. Several have been introduced, but the two described below are the only representatives of the genus which call for mention here. They thrive in sandy loam. Propagation may be effected by menas of cuttings, which strike freely in sand, under a bell glass.
R. lucida (clear).* African Bladder Nut or Snowdrop-tree. fl. white, solitary on axillary peduncles 1/4in. to 1in. long; corolla five-fid. fr. red and fleshy when ripe, 1/2in. to 1in. in diameter. l. elliptical or somewhat ovate, usually pointed or apiculate at apex, obtuse or sub-acute, rounded or cordate or very rarely narrowed at base, 1/2in. to 2 1/4in. long, 1/3in. to 1 1/4in. broad, shining above, on short petioles. h. 5ft. to 12ft. 1690. (B. R. 1846, 40.) R. pallens (pale). fl. white or yellowish; peduncles usually much longer than the flowers. June. fr. 1/2in. to 1in. in diameter, subglobose or avoid. l. narrowly obovate-elliptic, obtuse or rarely acute at apex, narrowed at the base into a short petiole, silky, especially beneath, or glabrate, evergreen, 1/2in. to 2in. long, 1/6in. to 3/4in. wide. Branches pale or cinereous, silky-pubescent or often glabrescent. h. 4ft. to 15ft. 1752. SYN. R. pubescens (B. R. 500).
R. pubescens (pubescent). A synonym of R. pallens.