A NEW TRIBE OF STERCULIACEZF. 255 
some have also been examined by the writer, with the kind help 
of Mr. W. B. Hemsley, in this country. Gage’s suggestion that 
the plant is a new Sterculiad is amply confirmed ; the flowers, 
however, show that it is not a Tarrietia. Drummond points out 
that the affinity of the plant is very close with the interesting 
African genus Triplochiton, Schum. non Alef.; so close, indeed, 
that it is almost a question whether the Tenasserim plant may 
not be referable to a marked section or subgenus of Schumann's 
Triplochiton. The points of difference between Manson's species 
and the species of T'riplochiton, which are given below, are, 
however, very marked, and appear to warrant the treatment of 
the former as the type of a distinct genus. This genus is there- 
fore dedicated to Mr. Manson, to whom we are indebted for the 
specimens that illustrate it, and is defined below as Mansonia, 
J. R. Drumm. 
This genus Mansonia possesses greater scientific interest than 
isolated novelties usually do. Its near ally, Triplochiton, Schum., 
was referred by the lamented Professor Sehumann to the cohort 
Malvales; it differs, however, so markedly from all the other 
genera, except the proposed genus Mansonia, of that cohort, that 
Schumann was unable to place it in any recognised natural order. 
He therefore proposed * the recognition of a new natural order 
Triplockitonacee for its accommodation; this order has more 
recently been admitted by Mr. C. H. Wright, when deseribing 
an additional species of Triplochitont. The writer does not 
find it necessary to adopt this extreme view. The two genera, 
Triplochiton, Schum., and Mansonia, J. R. Drumm., taken to- 
gether, certainly constitute a distinct and natural group. But 
the characters which separate this group from all other known 
groups within the cohort Malvales, even those that are most 
distinctive, so clearly indicate Sterculiaceous affinities that it 
may easily be referred to Sterculiacee ; within that order, how- 
ever, it forms a distinct and hitherto unrecognized tribe, 
Mansoniee. 
The question whether the differences exhibited by Manson’s 
tree, when compared with the known species of Triplochiton, are 
sufficiently marked to entitle it to separate generic recognition 
may be best settled by their enumeration. The leaves of Triplo- 
chiton are lobed, of Mansonia are undivided; bracteoles are 
* Engler, Bot. Jahrb. xxviii. (1900) p. 330. 
T Hooker, Icon. Plant. t. 2758. 
