Tab. 5410. 

 GARDENIA octomera, 



Eight-parted Gardenia. 



Nat. Ord. Rubiace;e. — Pentandria Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Calycis tubus ovatus, ssepe costatus, limbus tubulosus truncatus 

 dentatus fissus partitusve. Corolla infundibuliformis aut hypocraterimorpha, 

 tubo calyce multo longiore, limbo per sestivationem contorto patente 5-9-partito. 

 Antheree 5-9, lineares, ad faucem subsessiles. Stigma clavatum, bifidum aut biden- 

 tatum, lobiscrassis erectis. Ovarium dissepimentis incompletis 2-5 semidivisum, 

 1-loculare. Bacca carnosa, calyce coronata, intus chartacea aut nucleata, incom- 

 plete 2-5-locularis. Semina placentis parietalibus camosis imraersa. Embryo 

 albuminosus, vagus. — Arbores aut frutices, inermes aut spinescentes. Folia op- 

 posite, raro verticillata, ovalia. Mores axillares aut terminates, pier unique soli- 

 tarii, albi, demum scepejlorescentes, ssepius odori. De Cand. 



Gardenia octomera ; fruticosa inerrais mollissime pubescenti-villosa, folds terna- 

 tim verticiliatis ovato-oblongis brevi-acuminatis subsessilibus, tloribus axil- 

 laribus solitaries sessilibus octomeris, calycis limbo profunde 8-partito, 

 laciniis subulatis erectis unciam longis,tubo brevi laevi, corolla? tubo 6-uuciali 

 cylindraceo, limbi segmeutis ovatis patentibus apice mucronatis, stigmate 

 subclavato bipartite exserto. 



De Candolle says of Gardenia, " Genus difficillimum, forte 

 dividend um, ob fructus plurimos non satis notos speciebus 

 forsan heterogeneis conflatum." Genetically our present species 

 would, I should think, rank with my Bandia Bowieana, figured 

 at Tab. 3409 of this work; but that plant Mr. Bentham, in 

 the ' Niger Flora/ refers to Bothmannia, of which Gardenia 

 Rothmannia (Rot. Mag. t. 690 ; Rothmannia Capensis, Thunb.) 

 is the type, but which both De Candolle and Endlicher refer 

 as a section to Gardenia, with the character, " Calycis tubus 

 costatus, v. laciniis decurrentibus angulatus. Corolla? tubus 

 fauce dilatata obconicus." Mr. Bentham, in the ' Niger Flora,' 

 has proposed (p. 382) some distinctive characters for Both- 

 mannia and Bandia, but I do not find that our plant tallies well 

 with any of his sections. It is a native of Fernando Po, where it 



NOVEMBER 1ST, 1863. 



