* 
50 
greater obligations than to any naturalist who ever visited India ; of a predecessor so eminent and indefatigable, that 
no exertion of mine can ever make me fully worthy of occupying his post; of a friend and patron whose kindness and 
hospitality I shall always remember with heartfelt gratitude. In the manuscript of the excellent Dr. Roxburgh, now 
before me, there is an affecting anecdote, which is not found in the printed account of Rowburghia gloriosoides in his 
Coromandel Plants, although it refers to that species ; no apology is necessary for introducing it here. “This was 
one of the last plants which Dr. König saw. It was brought in when on his death-bed. He did attempt to examine 
it, but was unable; the cold hand of death hung over him. He desired that I would describe it particularly, for he 
thought it was uncommonly curious and beautiful.—This observation from a worthy friend, a preceptor and prede- 
cessor, has made me more than usually minute in describing and drawing it.” Truly did the dying Kénig designate 
the plant uncommonly curious and beautiful. It belongs not only to a distinct genus, which Dr. Dryander has justly 
dedicated to Dr. Roxburgh, but it forms probably a new tribe or family of plants, which Mr. Lindley,—who has all 
the honour and credit of first describing and elucidating it in the following observations and in the annexed plate,— 
has generously conceded to me the privilege of naming, and which I accordingly call Rovburghiacee. 
ROXBURGHIA VIRIDIFLORA.—Pericarpium superum, oblongum, compressum, carnosum, olivaceum, maculis pallidis conspersum, pendulum 
1-loculare, 2-valve, polyspermum, contextu celluloso interiore dodecaedrali, cellulis plurimis materie pallidè viridi farctis, quibusdam (inte- 
rioribus) vacuis; exteriore compresso; venis in substantia pericarpii rectiusculis, subparallelis, ramulis quibusdam vagis e vasibus 
spiralibus simplicissimis, contextu inclusis fibroso. Valvule planiusculæ, dorsi medio longitudinaliter convexæ, intis niveæ. Placenta 2, 
basi utriusque valvulz adnate, albæ, carnosæ, planæ, divisæ in Juniculos plurimos filiformes, longissimos, subspirales, apice arilliferos, e 
fasciculo conflatos vasorum plurium spiralium, simplicissimorum, telâ cellulosâ prismaticâ vacua inclusorum.  Ari//us stuposus, constans 
filamentis numerosissimis cylindraceis, obtusis, albis, cellulosis, contextu vasculoso nullo. Semina cinnamomea, teretia, basi angustata, 
apice rostrata, medio paullulim constricta. Testa suberosa, sulcata, compage cellulosâ, secus nucleum valdé compressa, superficiem 
versus sensim inflatå et rotundatå. Raphe obsoleta, angulum internum seminis occupans, in rostrum incurvum desinens. Chalaza: 
areola rotunda, fusca, subdepressa sub rostro. Embryo rectus, filiformis in axi albuminis carnosi, extremitate radiculari clavatá testæ 
contiguå, cotyledoneå attenuatá, albumine breviore. Plumula minutissima, conica, intra embryonem recondita, rimè nullà.— Lindl. MSS. 
There is no order of monocotyledonous plants to which Roxburghia can be very certainly referred. Its habit is that of Smilaceæ and 
Dioscoreæ, but the venation of the leaves, the structure of the fruit, and the number of the parts of the flower, are entirely at variance 
with those orders. It approaches the Aroideæ more nearly than any other tribe, especially in the quaternary proportion of the perianth 
and stamens, in its placentation and offensive odour: it may also be compared with the climbing species of that order in regard to 
its habit; nor is the venation of its leaves very much at variance with many of the ribbed-leaved Pothoses. But the highly developed 
perianthium, and the absence of any lateral rima in the embryo for the escape of the plumula, are such important points of difference, 
that it is impossible to consider Roæburghia absolutely referable either to Aroideæ or to any of the tribes that modern botanists have 
struck off it.-—Lindl. 
Plate CCLXXXII. Fig. 1. A front view of a full-grown fruit, natural size. 2. Side view of the same. 3. A fruit, after the 
dehiscence, showing the two valves and the seeds hanging by their long funiculi in two parcels, originating at the base of the valves: 
natural size. 4. A portion of one of the placentæ, with four funiculi, a seed attached to one of them: a, a piece of the placenta ; 
b, funiculi; c, the stupose arillus; d, a seed; magnified. 5. A highly magnified view of one of the hairs of the arillus, showing their 
cellular structure. 6. A longitudinal section of a seed, magnified : a, the embryo; b, side of the testa where the raphe passes; c, the 
beak. 7. Transverse section of the same: a, the embryo; 6, the side along which the embryo passes. 8. A highly magnified 
view of a longitudinal section of the radicular extremity of the embryo: a, the plumula; 5, the rudiment of an internal radicula. 
9. A highly magnified view of a transverse slice of the testa, and of a portion of the nucleus: a, the nucleus; b, the testa. 10. A 
highly magnified view of a longitudinal slice of a thin part of the pericarpium: a, the cellular tissue of the outside; 5, that of the 
middle; d, that of the lining; e, a bundle of spiral vessels incased in woody fibre, which appears to have been a ramification of one of 
the principal veins. 11. A highly magnified view of a longitudinal slice of one of the funiculi ; a, the external prismatical cellular 
tissue; b, the central bundle of spiral vessels without a case of woody fibres. 
MELANORRH(EA GLABRA. Tab. 283. 
Founs cuneato-oblongis, lævibus. 
Habitat ad Tavoy oræ Tenasserim, florens mense Decembris (Gulielmus Gomez). 
ARBOR. Rami cinerascentes, supernè cano-pubescentes. Forra ad apicem ramorum valdè approximata, sparsa, patentia, cuneato- 
oblonga, obtusa, integerrima, levitèr undulata, deorsüm valdè ‘attenuata, basi subacuminatå in petiolum brevem subdecurrentia, 
6—10-pollicaria, coriacea, levia, suprà lucida, subtìs costa elevatá, nervisque in recentibus foliis puberulis, frequentibus, transversis; 
intra marginem anastomosantibus, venis reticulatis. PETIOLUS semipollicaris, supra, planus, subtòs pubescens. Corymr axillares, solitarii, 
foliis breviores, longiusculé pedunculati. PEDUNCULI teretes, glabri; universalis 3-pollicaris ; partiales alterni ; pedicelli semipollicares. 
BRACTEOLÆ lineares, caduce ad basin pedicellorum. FLORES pauci subfasciculati, albicantes. SRPALA 5 lanceolata, membranacea, reti- 
