it as having flowers in cylindric spikes, and in this he is 
followed by De Candolle in the Prodromus, both authors 
citing Commelin, without looking at his description; I 
have found no work in which the two species were dis- 
criminated earlier than the 9th edition (Martyn’s, 1807) of 
Miller’s ‘‘Gardener’s Dictionary,” where one appears as 
Mimosa, n. 49, with ‘‘ flowers in cylindric spikes, yellow,” 
and the other, n. 44, with “ spikes globular white.” The 
latter, he says, was sent to Hurope in 1729, from Vera 
Cruz, but was cultivated at Hampton Court in 1690. 
Lastly, Chamisso and Schlechtendahl, in “ Linnea” (vol. v. 
1830, p. 594) describe the two as Acacia spadicigera and 
A. spherocephala, names adopted by Bentham in his ex- 
haustive monograph of Acacia, and which will, no doubt, 
be retained; and that of A. cornigera, Willd., be sup- 
pressed, having regard to the fact that, by citing Com- 
melin, Willdenow virtually included both under it. 
Reverting to Hernandez’ figure or rather figures, for 
there are two, it is possible that they pourtray both species, 
their “horns” are identical; but the leaves of the right 
hand figure have short pinne, with fewer pinnules, as in 
A. spadicigera; those of the left hand one have pinnze 
twice as long, and very numerous pinnules, as in 4, 
spherocephala. Which the Hampton Court species may 
have been is doubtful. If Commelin’s description 
refers to it, it is A. spherocephala ; if the English noble- 
man’s opinion is worth anything, the plant was more pro- 
bably A. spadicigera. In conclusion, it must be remembered 
that there is a third Mexican Acacia, with similar horned 
stipules, namely, A. Hindsii, Benth., which differs from 
A, spadicigera in having very slender spikes of flowers. 
It may be one of Hernandez’s two plants. It is a native 
of the West Coast of Mexico, and hence less likely than 
the others to have been introduced at an early date. 
The plant from which the drawing of A. spadicigera is 
taken was received from M. Linden of Ghent in 1882. 
It is cultivated in a pot on ashelf in the Palm House, 
along with two allied species, A. sphxrocephala and A. 
Hindsii, both of which have large horn-like spines and 
fleshy appendages on the tips of the leaflets. Of these 
A. spherocephala has since flowered, and a figure of it 
has been prepared for this work. A. spadicigera flowered 
