256 MB. B. A. BOLEE ON A NEW GENUS OF 



On Hyalocalyx, a npw Genus of Turnerace* from Madagascar. 

 By E. A. Eolfe, Herbarium, Boyal Gardens, Kew. (Com- 

 municated by Prof. D. Omveb, F.B.S., F.L.S.) 



[Bead 17th April, 1884.] 



(Plate VII.) 



The Order Turneracese has recently formed the subject of an 

 excellent monograph by Dr. Ignatius Urban, of Berlin. In this 

 monograph he has shown that the Order consists of 83 species 

 belonging to five genera. Of these Turnera has 54 species, all 

 American, and ranging from Mexico to the Argentine republic ; 

 Wormskioldia with 7 species, and Streptopetalum with 2, are con- 

 fined to Africa, where they range from Abyssinia to Mozambique ; 

 2 species of the former genus being confined to the small island 

 of Zanzibar; the remarkable monotypic genus Mathurina is 

 peculiar to the island of Eodriguez ; while Piriqueta has 19 

 species, of which 16 are American, and ranging from North 

 Carolina to the Argentine Eepublic, one is confined to a limited 

 region at the Cape of Good Hope, and the remaining two are 

 limited to North Madagascar. An additional genus may now be 

 added from the small island of Nossi-be, on the north-west of 

 Madagascar. I am indebted to Dr. Vatke, of Berlin, for the 

 opportunity of examining and describing this plant, which was 

 collected by the late Dr. Christian Eutenberg, and is preserved in 

 the Herbarium at Bremen. A careful and leisurely examination 

 of this plant has shown one or two peculiar characters which 

 seem to require a new genus for its reception. I have therefore 

 made a drawing of it, wh\ch, with the accompanying description, 

 I have pleasure in offering to the Linnean Society. 



Following TJrban's arrangement, the position of this genus is 

 between Mathurina and Turnera, with both of which it agrees in 

 the absence of a corona at the base of the petals. In habit it is 

 very similar to Turnera, being a small herb with erect flowers, 

 which are solitary in the axils of the leaves ; the styles, seeds, 

 and arillus are also very similar. The only approach to Mathu- 

 rina is in the subhypogynous insertion of the petals and stamens. 

 The flower (as far as I know) is by far the smallest in the 

 Order, as it is only two lines long and very sleuder ; it is also 

 peculiar in having a number of long white hairs on the peduncle. 



