29S MR. W. B. HEMSLEY ON A BOTANICAL 



* 



such cases the branches are usually short, and are arranged alter- 

 nately along the stem. The terminal bud is apparently neither 

 injured nor destroyed, (d) Palms that are usually soboliferous 

 (producing suckers at the base) are rarely branched at or near 

 the apex. And, lastly, (e) no instance appears to be so far 

 recorded of a monocarpic palm with a branched stem. 



[Note added. — In a " Narrative of an Expedition across Mel- 

 ville Island, north of Port Darwin, Australia" (Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 South Australia, vol. xv. p. 117), Mr. Maurice Holtze writes : 

 U A botanical novelty which I would have liked very much to 

 have taken with me was found in the shape of a Livistonia humilis 

 with four distinct branches." This record is interesting as adding 

 another genus to those already mentioned in which branched 

 palms have been observed. This is apparently the only instance 

 recorded of a branched palm in Australia. — D. M.] 







Observations on a Botanical Collection made by Mr. A. E. Pratt 



in Western China, with Descriptions of some new Chinese 

 Plants from various Collections. By W. Bottutg Hemsley, 

 F.P.S., A.L.S. 



[Read 21st April, 1892.] X 



(Plates XXIX.-XXXIII.) 



When the publication of an enumeration of all the plants known 

 from China was commenced in this Society's Journal (vol. xxiii.) 

 in 1886, we knew almost nothing (in this country, at least) of 

 the botany of the Central and Western Provinces. It is true 

 that Mr. Franchet had already published the first part of his 

 i Plantae Davidianae ' ; but that contained a comparatively small 

 number of novelties and among them no new genera. Since 

 then, owing to the stimulus given by the publication of the 

 " Enumeration, 1 ' very large collections have been made by 

 Dr. A. Henry and others, chiefly in the provinces of Hupeh and 

 Szechuen, and transmitted to Kew. The Beverend E. Faber 

 ascended Mount Omei, an isolated elevation on the Min river, 

 upwards of 11,000 feet high, and botanized it, the result bein 

 a large number of novelties, including about fifteen ferns. 

 Several other gentlemen, chiefly missionaries and members of 

 the consular service, have sent smaller collections of dried 

 plants to Kew. But it is not my intention to enter into 



or 



