We are indebted to Mr, Bentham for the foregoing 
extracts from an unpublished paper read before the Linnean 
Society in May of the present year, and comprising the 
characters of several new genera, and species of this curious 
section of Polygonez. 
The subject of the present article was found by Douglas 
on the rocky gravelly banks of rivers in New Albion. 
It is a hardy herbaceous plant, forming a patch of neat 
dark green leaves which throw up in abundance, in May 
and June, their woolly scapes terminated by masses of yel- 
lowish white flowers. It thrives equally in peat earth, or 
common soil, best in a damp situation, and may be increased 
by cuttings of its well ripened shoots, struck in peat and 
sand in an almost exhausted hotbed. 
We have illustrated the structure of this rare genus 
in more detail than can usually be afforded in a work so 
cheap as this. 1. Isa magnified view of a flower as seen 
externally. 2. Is a section to show the connection of the 
stamens at their base, and how they are placed by threes in 
face of the inner segments of the calyx. 3. An ovary with 
its recurved styles. 4. A fruit enveloped in the permanent 
calyx. 5. A ripe nut. 6. A seed taken from out of the 
latter. 7. A section of a seed to shew the position of the 
embryo in the albumen. 
