ME. Q. BEKTHAM OX TEKNSTRffiMIACEiE. 53 



Notes on Tertistrcemiacew. By Geoege Bentham, Esq., V.P.L.S. 



[Bead April 5th, I860.] 



Since the publication of the first volume of the ' Prodromus ' and 

 of DeCandolle's Memoir in 1823, the beautiful tropical family of 

 Ternstraemiacea has several times engaged the attention of bota- 

 nists. Cambessedes, when working at A. de St.-Hilaire's ' Flora 

 Brasilia? Meridionalis,' published in 1828 a ' Me'moire sur les 

 Ternstroemiacees et les Guttiferes;' subsequently Martius, Pohl, 

 and Poeppig figured and described several species in their respec- 

 tive works on S. American plants ; whilst many Asiatic ones have 

 been published by "Wallich, Griffith, Gardner, Champion, Blume, 

 and especially by Korthals, and generally with more or less of 

 generic modification. Finally, Choisy undertook a general revi- 

 sion of the Order, and, after visiting the herbaria of Paris, London, 

 and Kew, published in 1855 his 'Me'moire sur les Ternstroe- 

 miacees et les Camelliacees,' some portions of which have been 

 revised or commented upon by Miquel in his ' Plora van Neder- 

 landsch Indie,' or by Seemann in his paper on Camellia in the 

 last Part of the ' Transactions ' of this Society. 



The preparation of the 'Hong-Kong Flora' having obliged me to 

 verify the characters of ten of the genera adopted by Choisy, I have 

 taken the opportunity of going over the whole Order for the 

 ' Genera Plantarum' which I am preparing in conjunction with 

 Dr. Hooker, and at the same time of settling more accurately the 

 determination of the species contained in Mr. Spruce's collections. 

 Several observations have suggested themselves in the course of 

 this examination, which have appeared to me of sufficient interest 

 to lay before the Linnean Society. 



Giving due credit to M. Choisy for the useful indications he 

 has given as to the limits, affinities, and arrangement of several 

 genera, I am unable to coincide with him as to the relative value 

 of the groups into which he has distributed them. Their se- 

 paration into two 'families principales'— the Ternstrcemiacem 

 allied to Menacece among Gamopetala, and the Cantelliacete near 

 Outtiferce among Bialypetal<e—aee\m to me neither natural nor 

 justified by any positive character. Cleyera and Freziera, re- 

 tained among the former, have their petals much freer than those 

 of Gordonia and Camellia, placed in the latter family; and the whole 

 group of Gordonieai seems to me to be very much nearer to Tern- 

 strwmieee, from which he removes them so far, than to Bonnet tece, 

 with which he unites them. 



LINN. TBOC. — BOTANY, VOL. V. 



