Tas. 4900. 
NYCTANTHES Arsor-tristTIs. 
Arbor-tristis, or Night Jasmine. 
Nat. Ord. JasmINE&%.—D1anpria MonoGynta. 
Gen. Char. Calyx tubulosus, integer aut vix 5-6-denticulatus. Corolla tubo 
tereti, limbo 5—7-lobo, lobis obcordatis per estivationem sinistrorsum contortis. 
Anthere 2, ad faucem sessiles. Stigma capitatum. Capsula chartacea, compressa, 
obovata, emarginata, bilocularis, bipartibilis, loculis indehiscentibus. Semina in 
quoque loculo solitaria, fundo affixa, erecta, exalbuminosa.—Frutex Jndicus, non 
scandens. Ramuli tetragoni. Folia opposita, breviter petiolata, ovata, acuta, utrin- 
que scabra. Pedunculi awillares et terminales, apice flores tres umbellulatos bibrac- 
teatos gerentes. Corolle alje tubo aurantiaco. Flores odoratissimi. De Cand. 
NyctantuHes Arbor-tristis. 
Nyctantues Arbor-tristis. Zinn. Sp. Pl. ed. v. 2. p.8. Roxb. Fl. Ind. v. 1. 
p. 85. Hort. Kew. ed. 2.v.1. Ker, Bot. Reg. t. 399. . De Cand. Prodr. 
v. 8. p. 314, 
Scasprita scabra. Linn. Syst. Veget. ed. 12. p. 115. 
Paritium Arbor-tristis. Gaertn. 
Mansapumeram. Rheede, Hort. Malad. v. 1. p. 35. ¢. 21. 
Sép’halicdé. Jones, Asiat. Res. v. 4. p. 244. 
In no modern work on Botany does a good figure of this in- 
teresting plant appear; indeed we know of only one such figure 
at all, that of Mr. Ker above quoted, and that is so indifferent 
that we are glad to offer a better from plants which were raised 
at Mount Lebanon, Twickenham, by Her Grace the Dowager 
Duchess of Northumberland, from seeds lately received from 
India. It is treated as a stove-plant. Though introduced by 
Sir Joseph Banks in 1781 from India, it is nevertheless little 
known in our collections. Its name, Myctanthes (vvE, night, and 
avos, flower) Arbor-tristis, has perhaps created a prejudice against 
it. Sir William Jones tells us: “This gay tree (for nothing sor- 
rowful appears in its nature) spreads its rich odour to a consi- 
derable distance every evening, but at sunrise it sheds most of 
its night-flowers, which are collected with care for the use of 
FEBRUARY Ist, 1856. 
