Tas. 6798. 
PANAX Mourrayi. 
Nat. Ord. AnaLiacez. 
Genus Panax, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. i. p. 938.) 
Panax Murrayi; caule simplici stricto erecto apicem versus folioso, foliis crebris 
subverticillatis 3-4-pedalibus patenti-recurvis pinnatis, rachi puberulo v. 
tomentello tereti, foliolis multi-10-12-jugis approximatis petiolulatis 3-6-polli- 
caribus oblique e basi inzquali lata lanceolatis acuminatis integris v. grosse 
obtuse dentatis glaberrimis, umbellulis subglobosis multifloris in racemos sim- 
plices puberulos dispositis racemis pedalibus subterminalibus strictis rachi 
valida, floribus gracile pedicellatis, calycis margine minuto 5-denticulato, petalis 
denum reflexis ovatis acutis valvatis. 
This stately plant was presented to the Royal Gardens 
by Mr. Bull, who imported it from the South Sea Islands 
(though the exact locality appears to be unknown), and 
flowered it in his establishment at Chelsea in May, 1881, 
under the provisional name of Aralia splendidissima. It is, 
however, not an Aralia, but a genuine Panaz, having the 
_ valvate petals of that genus, and it is so similar to specimens — 
of P. Murrayi, of Baron Mueller, a native of northern New 
South Wales and Queensland, that, having regard to the 
great difference in habit and foliage that exists between 
young and old plants of this genus, I cannot venture to 
describe it as a different species. 
P. Murrayi is described as “ a splendid tree, with a trunk 
fifty to sixty feet high, and then trichotomously branched ;” 
and there is nothing in the habit or mode of growth of 
the present plant that would not point to this being its 
future condition. The leaflets of dried specimens of 
P. Murrayi are extremely variable; in some leaves they 
are straight, linear-oblong, three inches long, with cuneate 
base and rounded tip; in others they are eight inches long, 
lanceolate, acuminate, with a rounded base; the nervation 
also is very variable. In short, variations such as _ these 
(and far wider indeed) are normal in the foliage of Araliacer, 
and leave little room for supposing that the plant here 
FEBRUARY Ist, 1885. 
