House, where it has thriven well and has developed into a 
graceful tree twenty feet or so in height. During the forty 
years which have elapsed since its arrival, the tree had made 
no attempt to flower until February, 1912, when its striking 
inflorescences were developed from the hard, woody stem, 
and proved that the plait was not a Lomatia but was 
Akania Hillii. The difficulties that attend the reference of 
the genus Akania to its proper natural family have been 
fully discussed by Dr. Stapf in an interesting note in the 
Kew Bulletin for 1912, pp. 378-9, where the extraordinary 
diversity of view to which its characters have given rise is 
clearly displayed. But, whatever its most natural position 
may be, A. /illii, whether as grown for its foliage only or 
when it rewards the patience of a generation by developing 
its blossoms, is from the cultural standpoint a species well 
worthy of a place in a roomy greenhouse. 
_ Descriprion.— Tree, 30-40 ft. high, glabrous except the 
inflorescence. Leaves unequally pinnate, 1-2 ft., rarely 
3 ft. long; rachis stout; leaflets opposite or occasionally 
alternate, 6-15 on each side, lanceolate, acuminate, spinu- 
lose-serrate, 5-12 in. long, 3-% In. wide, coriaceous, shining 
on both sides, nerves 15-20 on each side, anastomosing 
near the margin, finely reticulated beneath, with white 
foveolate papillae within each areola: petiolules 2—5 lin. 
long. Panicles axillary, or supra-axillary, or from the old 
wood, 1-14 ft. long, lax but little branched, pubescent 
except the base of the rachis; pedicels slender, }—! in. long. 
Sepals 5, deciduous, 2 lin, long, somewhat unequal, rounded, 
obtuse ; margins ciliate, elsewhere nearly glabrous. Petals 5, 
contorted, obovate-oblong, clawed, white or (in wild plants) 
pale rose, 4-5 lin. long, Stamens usually 8, rarely 9, 
3-4 epipetalous inserted at the base of the calyx, 5 (outer) 
episepalous inserted higher up; filaments glabrous; anthers 
oblong. Ovary ovoid-oblong, 3-celled, contracted into a 
thickened style ; stigma minutely 3-lobed; ovules 2 in each 
cell superposed, Fruit a capsule, 2? in. long, dehiscing 
loculicidally ; valves finely coriaceous. Seeds 1-2 in each 
cell, ellipsoid globose or truncately flattened, 5 lin. long, 
4 lin, wide ; testa crustaceous, : 
_ Fig. I, floral diagram ; 2, bud ; 3, flower in vertical section; 4 and 5, anthers ; 
6, ovary in vertical section :-—al? enlarged. 
