TLOWEll IN THE GENUS NAPOLEOXA, ETC. 493 



belong to the same species vary one from the other in a manner 

 that is not a little embarrassing. The flowering of a plant in one 

 of the conservatories at Kew last spring afforded me an oppor- 

 tunity of examining the structure of the flowers ; and from this 

 examination as well as from a comparison of herbarium specimens 

 from various collectors, I have drawn up the foUoAving remarks, 

 in the hope that they may serve to throw some light upon the real 

 conformation and arrangement of the floral organs, and upon the 

 question as to whether there exists one (variable) species or more. 

 As the early history of the plant, its detection by Pahsot de 

 Beauvois, the incredulity with which his statements were originally 

 received, and other cognate matters are pretty well known, and have 

 been often recorded in easily accessible works, it is needless to 

 allude to them in detail now, and therefore I shall only incidentally 

 mention such points in the history of the genus as appear to me 

 necessary for the due comprehension of my remarks. The fol- 

 lowing statement gives approximately the dates of discovery and 

 introduction of living or dried specimens into Europe. The 

 original iV". imperialis was discovered by Palisot de Beauvois in 

 1786. Other specimens, constituting what was called iV". Heude- 

 lotii by Jussieu, were found by Heudelot and described by A. de 

 Jussleu in 1844. Whitfield met with the so-called A^. Wkitfieldii 

 In 1843. He sent home living plants, one of which produced 

 flowers at Sion House, near London, in 1848, and others have 

 since flowered in various establishments. The plant in cultivation 

 at Kew, on which I shall have to comment by-and-by, was probably 

 derived from Whitfield in the first instance. Vogel gathered 

 what is called N. Vogelii (Niger Flora, p. 360) in 1841. Barter 

 sent home specimens from Lagos in 1859 ; and more recently Mann 

 forwarded from Old Calabar others, and from Fernando Po, In 

 1860, leaves and flowers, which are distinct in some points from 

 those sent by any other collector. Dr. Welwitsch also discovered 

 in Angola other specimens, of which I have only seen the fruit- 

 On comparing the several localities whence these specimens 

 came, it will be seen that Heudelot' s plant was found furthest to 

 the north, in Senegambia, 10°-18° N. ; next in order going to- 

 Avards the equator were Whitfield's, collected at Sierra Leone, 

 in about 8° N. ; Barter's, from Lagos, in about 6° N. ; then 

 Palisot's original plants, gathered at Oware, in nearly the same 

 latitude. Vogel obtained his specimens at Cape Palmas, lat. 4° 

 Mann's Old-Calabar plants were gathered in nearly the same lati- 

 tude, but some fifteen or more degrees to the eastward ; while 



