I 



lary part of the style hardens and rolls up, eventually leaving 

 the prolongation of the placenta as a distinct beak. We 

 believe ourselves now justified in stating that in numerous 

 cases the style is formed by the matter of the placenta. How 

 far the structure that obtains in Babingtonia may be general 

 in Myrtacese we have not leisure to enquire j it certainly 

 exists in Bseckea, and probably in Callistemon also. 



The next point which requires explanation, is our reason 

 for regarding this plant as a genus distinct from Bseckea. 

 The most simple way of justifying the measure is to place 

 before the reader a copy of the character of Baeckea properly 

 so called. In Endlicher's Genera Plantarum it is given 

 thus : 



BiECKEA. Linn. Flores axillares, sessiles v. pedunculati. Calyx tubo 

 turbinate, cum ovario connato, limbo supero v. semisupero, quinquefido, 

 persistente. Corolla petala 5, calycis fauci inserta, ejusdem laciniis 

 alterna, breviter unguiculata, orbiculata. Stamina 5 v. 10, cum petalis 



filamenta 



biloculares, longitudinaliter dehiscentes. Ovarium inferum v. semi-in- 

 ferum, bi-tri-quinqueloculare, loculis multiovulatis. Stylus filiformis; 

 stigma capitatum. Capsula infera v. semisupera, bi-tri-quinquelocularis, 

 apice loculicide dehiscens. Semina 



Hollandice et Asia: tropica: ; foliis opposite 



axi 



dunculatis, nunc umbellatis. Endlicher Genera, 6311. i 



Now it must be evident that there are two material cir- 



which these plants differ. In the first plac 



the stamens of Bseckea are equidistant, either alternately 



pposed to the sepals and petals, or to only *bne of them 

 Here, on the contrary, the stamens are collected in threes, 

 opposite the sepals, and are altogether deficient opposite the 

 petals. As a commencement of that grouping of stamens in 

 parcels, which in some Mvrtaceous plants is so remarkable, 

 this is a character not to be passed lightly by. In the next 

 place, the anthers are more like those of a Fringe Myrtle 

 than a Bseckea, opening by pores at their apex, and not by 

 slits along their sides ; and they are inserted on the filaments, 

 as if the latter were half pushed into their base, instead of 

 rising from the side of the filament ; in fact they are a mani- 

 fest approach to the peculiar form manifest m the Melasto- 

 maceous order. We anticipate then no difference of opinion 

 as to the propriety of separating this plant from Bseckea pro- 



February 



E 



