among Leguminosae, not less distinct than extraordinary. 
The valves, instead of dividing the pod into two equal por- 
tions, as usually happens in papilionaceous plants, or by 
their cohesion forming an indehiscent fruit, separate in 
Carmichaelia, both from the placentiferous and barren mar- 
gins which are left upon the plant after the seeds have 
fallen, and resemble tlie ])ersistent placentas of a crucifer- 
ous capsule with an obliterated dissepiment. The term 
replum, which is employed in Mr. Brown's generic charac- 
ter to designate the persistent circumscription of the 
legume, was used by Vitruvius for the frame of a door, 
and, we believe, has been already applied to the purposes 
of botanical descri})tion in the sense in which it is used 
here, which is certainly unexceptionable. 
The garden plant has been compared by Mr. Brown 
with the specimens from Cook's voyage, in his own collec- 
tion, and with an authentic specimen from George Forster's 
Herbarium, as well as by ourselves with others from some 
part of New Zealand ; and no difference has been detected 
between them. 
In explanation of the name applied to this plant, we 
make the following extract from Mr. Brown's communica- 
tion upon the subject : 
" I have named the genus in honour of my friend. Cap- 
tain Dugald Carmichael, F.L.S., a very accurate Botanist, 
whose interesting account of the Island of Tristan da 0unha 
is published in the 12th volume of the Linnaean Society's 
Transactions, and to whom I am indebted for extensive 
collections, and many excellent descriptions of the plants 
of the island of Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope." 
A hardy greenhouse plant, of the easiest cultivation, 
forming a branched, leafless bush, with its young branches 
compressed or two-edged, and toothed on their edges by 
minute stipulae. Leaves of the young plant are ternate 
or pinnate, wdth 3-7 obcordate leaflets. The Flowers are 
small, and of an agreeable lilac colour, and are disposed 
in little simple racemes, appearing in profusion from the 
denticulations of the branches. Calyx cup-shaped, with 5 
nearly equal, very short teeth. Petals of nearly equal 
length: vexillum broader than long, without any calli or 
auricles at the base ; carina obtuse. Anthers uniform, oval. 
0<;flr^ linear, 5-6 seeded, ilfy/e subulate, ascending. Stigma 
simple, obtuse, beardless. Pod 4-seeded (1-3), with the 
frame persistent after the fall of the valves. Seeds uniform, 
with the recess closed up, and the umbilicus naked. 
• Our diawiog wag made ia Mr. Cdlviirs Nurserr, in 
March last. J. L. 
