distinct species. The genus requires careful revision, 
and until this is accomplished it is impossible to define 
accurately the limits and the area of the species. ‘There is 
no doubt that our plant is the common South Russian 
form, the “arbor vulgaris” which Pallas described so 
well as the type of his 7’. pentandra. The reason why 
Desvaux dropped Pallas’s name was probably that author’s 
faulty synonymy, and the inclusion as a variety of another 
form which he rightly considered a distinct species. 
Desvaux’s own description of “ 7’. Pallasii”’ is practically 
useless, and to show how little he grasped the characters 
of Pallas’s plants, it may be mentioned that the specimen 
which he wrote up as ‘ 7'. Pallasii” in the Paris Her- 
barium (Herb. Jussieu) is 7’. lava, Willd., a totally distinct 
species. The variety referred to above as described by 
Pallas is identical with 7. hispida, Willd., a singular form 
with very glaucous, minutely hirsute branchlets. It was 
under this name that the Kew specimens of 1’. pentandra 
were purchased from a Belgian nurseryman. The true 
_'. hispida is a native of the deserts between the Caspian 
and Turkestan. 
Deserv.—A. shrub, or small tree, with slender, usually 
purple branches ; this year’s branchlets, either long shoots 
or short shoots. eaves of the long shoots distant, lan- 
ceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, slightly decurrent at the 
base, j,-+ in. long; those of the short shoots imbricate, 
ovate, 73-3, in. long, appressed, glaucous or pale green. 
Racemes slender, rather dense, 1—2 in. long, from the new 
wood, arranged in large, terminal panicles; bracts ovate, 
acuminate, or acute, as long as, or slightly longer than the 
pedicels; pedicels up to almost ;4 in. long. Sepals 9, 
broad-ovate, acute, 7;—j5 in. long, margins broad, hyaline, 
white. Petals 5, broadly elliptic-oblong, very obtuse, 
conniving, persistent, ;4—-j, in. long. Discus 5-lobed, 
lobes emarginate. Stamens 5; filaments filiform from the 
base, inserted on the outer side of the disc between the 
lobes ; anthers minntely apiculate. Ovary almost lageni- 
form, ;y in. long; styles 3, very short, with obovate, 
conniving stigmas. Capsule 4 in. long.—Orto Starr. 
Fig. 1, foliage; 2, flowers; 3, flower with sepals and petals removed; 
4, section of ovary ; 5, ovule :—all enlarged. 
