PLANTS COLLECTED IN CHINA. 475 
plants having showy flowers is almost incredible. Every fresh 
collection contains a considerable percentage of new species. 
Such familiar genera as Clematis, Rhododendron, Lonicera, 
Primula, Gentiana, Lysimachia, Pedicularis, Senecio, and Saus- 
surea are represented by upwards of fifty species each, and some 
of them by upwards of one hundred each. From a very rough 
calculation I estimate the vascular plants of China at 10,000 
species, at least. 
The plants I am showing this evening were collected by 
Dr. Augustine Henry and Mr. William Hancock, both Fellows 
of this Society, in the neighbourhood of Mengtze and Szemao, 
in Southern Yunnan, and just within the tropics. Mengtze is 
at an elevation of 4640 feet, and Szemao at 4480 feet, but 
what height the surrounding mountains reaeh I have not been 
able to ascertain. The greatest elevations given on the labels 
are from 7000 to 8500 feet. 
I should like to add that I received much assistance from my 
colleague, Mr. S. A. Skan, in comparing the specimens and 
preparing them for exhibition. 
The following plants are specially worth notice :— 
ASPIDOPTERYS OBCORDATA, Hemsl. (Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 2673, ined.). 
A new species characterized by having obcordate leaves with a 
small triangular lobe in the sinus, similar to those of some 
species of Passiflora. The affinities of this small Asiatic genus 
are not obvious in the flowering stage, because it wants the 
characteristic glands on the petioles and calyx, and the very thin 
petals are neither clawed nor fringed. 
LESPEDEZA DIVERSIFOLIA, Hemsl. (Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 2625), and 
SHUTERIA SINENSIS, Hemsl. (Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 2626), Leguminose 
remarkable for their dimorphic leaves, which exhibit a sudden 
change from a petiolate condition and ovoid or lanceolate 
leaflets to a sessile condition and orbicular or cordate, stem- 
clasping leaflets. 
ERYNGIUM rFa&TIDUM, Linn.—This member of the Umbellifere 
is a native of tropieal America, where it is widely spread, 
ranging from Mexico to Colombia, the West Indies, and Brazil. 
It is also found in West Tropical Africa, where however it may 
have been introduced. In America it has some reputation as a 
