OF THE GENUS MILLETTIA. 161 
3413, 4834, David fide Franchet ? ( Moupine), ron Rosthorn, 1626, 1638 (Nan- 
chuan), * M. Bockii” (Nanchuan). 
As described and cited above, the species comprises a large number of 
forms passing gradually one into another and corresponding in no marked 
degree to any special areas. It cannot be ascertained that they are due to 
‘ariations of soil, climate, altitude, nor maritime influence, and with the 
ample material and notes which have passed through my hands | am 
obliged to regard it as a species which varies casually throughout the whole 
of its large area. Any attempt to segregate it at the present ume into 
systematic groups is therefore without value in the field or herbarium. 
Under these circumstances it is not unexpected that botanists who have had 
to deal with isolated specimens have frequently described them as repre- 
senting new species. 
The first specimens to reach Europe were probably those gathered by 
Fortune among the hills near Foochow, on the B.E. coast of the empire. 
Bentham referred them doubtfully to JM. cinerea, and it was not until half a 
century later that the specimens of the present common Chinese climber now 
accumulated in large numbers in European herbaria were seen to be distinct 
from that species. They are now brought together under the name of the 
first form to be separately described, M. Dielsiana. As may be gathered 
from the description, it is remarkably variable in size of flowers, length of 
paniele branches, and in the pubescence of its leaves and stem, and in certain 
states it bears a close superficial resemblance to allied species. Thus when 
the leaves are glabrous and reticulate it ean be distinguished from M. cinerea 
only by its pods, and from N. nitida by the slender character of its panicle 
and flowers ; when the leaves are pubescent its fruit alone certainly distin- 
guishes it from M. oosperma. 
23. M. NITIDA, Benth. in London Journ, Bot. 1. (1842) 484 ; in Mig. PL 
Jungh. 249 ; Beuth. in Fi. Hongk. 18 ; Forbes et Hemsl. in Journ. Linn. Soc., 
Dot. xxiii, (1886) 159 ; Dunn and Tutcher, Fl. Kwangt. 16.— Marquartia 
tomentosa, Vogel in Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. xix. Suppl. 1. (1843) 35. 
Frutez volubilis alte scandens, cortice fusco rugoso, ramis primo adpresse 
sericeis glabrescentibus. Folia bijuga, 15-20 em. longa, petiolo 5-plo longiora, 
preter vestigia indumenti decidui maturitate glabra; stipulæ lineares, 1-2 mm. 
longs ; foliola lateralia superiora lanceolata, gradatim acuminata, basi rotun- 
data vel obtusa, chartacea, utrinque nitida, reticulata, venis marginem 
appropinquantibus 5-6-paribus infra prominulis ; petioli 2-3 mm. longi. 
Panicula terminalis, 6-10 em. longa, raehi adpresse sericea ; rami floriferi 
patentes, 6-10 cm. longi. Flores approximati, singuli, 1'9 em. longi : 
pedieelli 2-3 mm. longi, üt calyx vexillique dorsum dense sericeo-velutini : 
bracteæ lanceolate, caducæ. Calyæ campanulatus, 6 mm. longus, 5 mm. 
latus, dentibus 4, superiore late rotundato emarginato, 3 inferioribus tubo 
