senting a most graceful and striking feature. It was received 
at Kew in 1864, and flowered, for the first time, in November 
of last year. As a genus it is closely allied to Cephaéhs, 
differing in habit, in the 3-4-celled ovary, and exserted sta- 
mens. 
Descr. A shrub attaining fifteen feet in height. Branches 
stout, cylindrical, green. Leaves opposite, on petioles two 
to three inches long, obovate or obovate-lanceolate, acute, 
narrowed into the petiole, quite glabrous, coriaceous; mid- 
rib stout, red below, nerves diverging. Stipules large, leafy, 
oblong, 2-fid, united at the pubescent base within the petioles, 
deciduous above the base. Peduncle axillary, eight to twelve 
inches long, solitary, scarlet, curving outwards, then down- 
wards, thickened and ascending at the apex, and bearing an 
erect subglobose compound head, two to five inches in dia- 
meter, of white flowers clothed with numerous general and 
partial orbicular concave shining involucral bracts. lowers 
densely crowded, white, shortly exserted, almost sessile; bracts 
spathulate. Calyax-tube very short, limb cylindric, 5—6-cleft, 
segments ciliate. Corolla-tube white, coriaceous, one-half to 
three-quarters of an inch long, lobes spreading, throat and 
mouth villous. Stamens exserted. Disc very large, almost 
globose. Ovary 3—4-celled ; style stout; stigma 3- or 4-lobed. 
ii Sr as . ees 
Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Corolla laid open. 3. Stamen. 4. Calyx, style, 
and stigma. 5. Ovary, disc, and base of style. 6. Vertical section of 
ditto. 7. Transverse section of ovary :—all magnified. 
