MR. G. BENT1IAM ON EUPHORBIACEiE. 185 



Notes on Ej^phorbiacese. 

 By George BentSam, Esq., E.R.S., E.L.S. 



[Bead November 7, 1878.] 



Among the large natural orders the elaboration of which I under- 

 took for the ' G-enera Plantar um/ I found the Euphorbiaceae in 

 almost as much confusion as to nomenclature and classification as 

 the Composite, but for very different reasons. In the Composite, 

 the great variety of forms indigenous to the civilized regions of 

 the globe, enabling them to be readily observed in a living state 

 by resident botanists, as well as the facility of preserving satis- 

 factory specimens from other countries (which, even when very 

 small, are often quite sufficient to exhibit their essential charac- 

 ters), have placed them at the mercy of a host of minor or special 

 botanists, who have thought themselves justified in inundating 

 the science with countless supposed new genera and species, the 

 worthlessness of which they were incompetent to judge of. Eu- 

 phorbiacese, on the contrary, of which so large a proportion are 

 tropical, arborescent or frutescent, with the sexes separate, have 

 been comparatively but little observed in a living state; and the 

 herbarium specimens requiring to be large, judiciously selected, 

 and carefully identified as to the two sexes, often so very different 

 in inflorescence and perianth, are often far too imperfect for prac- 

 tical use, and but few botanists have found themselves in a posi- 

 tion to deal with them. Two men, indeed, both of high standing 

 in the science, and with comparatively ample materials at their 

 command, have recently worked up the order with great care and 

 attention independently of each other ; and I would readily have 

 followed the lead of either of them, but that the two have so 

 frequently come to conclusions diametrically opposed to each 

 other, that I have been compelled to steer a course of my own 

 through a labyrinth of tribes, subtribes, genera, sections, or 

 vaguely indicated affinities. As I should think it unfair to dissent 

 from such men without stating in some measure the grounds of 

 my dissent, and as the limits imposed on us would not allow of 

 my doing so to a sufficient length in the ' Genera' itself, I have 

 thought that the Linnean Society would permit my publishing 

 the following notes in their ' Journal ' as a complement to my 

 former notes on Composite, Myrtacese, Campanulaceac,and others. 

 These notes I have divided under the four heads of History, 



