MR. G. BEXTHAM OK MYRTACK^. 155 



Leantria. In the three remaining species, two of them 5-merou3 

 and the third 4-merous, the seed is unknown. 



It is on account of the above complications, the want of corre- 

 spondence between the number of parts of the floral envelopes, the 

 consistence of the testa, the comparative size and shape of the 

 cotyledons and radicle, and the degree of development of the in- 

 florescence, that Ave have proposed to include the whole of the 

 above group in one genus, Mi/rtus. It is probable that when the 

 seeds of most of the doubtful species shall become known, five or 

 six tolerably well-marked Amez'ican sections may be formed, in- 

 cluding Pseudocavyoph/llas^ and perhaps Blepliarocalyx, referring 

 Temu, Anamomis, and Myrcianthes to Luma, and placing the 

 Australian ones in two or three separate sections. 



There remains tlie genus Macro^sidium of Blume, unknown to 

 us, but referred by Miquel to Psidium, and which in the * Grcnera ' 

 we thought showed all the characters of Myrtus, In either case 

 the geographical station, the island of Grilolo in the Moluccas, 

 would be quite exceptional. On restudying Blume's character, it 

 has occurred to me that the 4-celled ovary, with numerous uui- 

 seriate ovules, maj^ be in fact a 2-celled ovary divided by longi- 

 tudinal spurious dissepiments, in which case the plant would be 

 referable to Bhodomyrtus^ a genus already known in the archi- 

 pelago. Blume's second species is conjectural only, founded on 

 Loureiro's description of his Psidium rubriim. 



Ehodam^'ia, Jack (with which MonoxorUj Wight, has proved 

 to be identical), is one of the most distinct genera amongst Eu- 

 myrtesB, and, as far as hitherto known, presents no ambiguity. 

 There are about a dozen species, from tropical Asia and Australia, 

 with the three-nerved or triplinerved leaves (which are, besides, 

 only known in Myrtacese in a few species of Bhodomyrtus) ^ the 

 inflorescence and 4-merous flowers of the typical American Euge- 

 uias, and the seeds and embryo of Myrtus^ but which are abso- 

 lutely exceptional in Eumyrteae by their ovary 1-celled, with two 

 parietal placenta, without any trace of dissepiment. 



Ee]S"zlia, Endl., is also exceptional, but is almost monotypie, 

 consisting only of two tropical or subtropical Australian species, 

 closely allied to each other. The ovary is reduced to two or to a 

 single carpel, as in some species of Rhodomyrtus ; and the ovules, 

 very few in number, are superposed, as in that genus, but in a 

 single row. The habit and inflorescence show an approach to 

 Oshornia in Leptospermese ; the fruit, a 1- or 2-seeded drupe, with 

 a bony endocarp and thin almost dry exocarp, is also very near 



