SPICILEGIA  GORGONEA. ET 
Has. In planitie aprica circa Portum Praya, ins. S. Jacobi, 
(J. Dalton Hooker, n. 195. Novembre 1885, sp. florida et 
fructifera.) In eadem ins. (Darwin, n. 301) ; vidi quoque 
specimina plura in herb. ins. Cap. Vir. (Mus. reg. Par.) 
Oss. The authors of the Fl. Pen. Ind. Or, in their 
remarks on Melhania incana, Heyne, observe that it ex- 
ceedingly resembles the figure of Brotera ovata, Cav., said to 
have distinct styles. This, indeed, is the only character 
which separates Melhania and Brotera. A careful examina- 
tion, however, of the species which constitute this latter 
genus, has proved to me that no such character in reality 
exists, and that it must therefore merge in Melhania. In 
the Brotera ovata, formerly cultivated by Desfontaines in the 
Paris Garden, probably from seeds sent by Cavanilles him- 
Self, and preserved in his herbarium, as well as iu the 
B. Leprieurii and B. bracteosa of the Fl. Sen. Tent. in the 
Delesserian herbarium, I have found a very distinct style, 
not so conspicuous as in the species formerly placed under 
Dombeya, equally so, however, with those of the group of 
true Melhanias, to which M. ovata and M. Leprieurii belong, 
M. bracteosa will form another group with M. Kotschyi, 
Koch. The error of Cavanilles and of the authors of the 
Fl. Sen. ‘Tent. arose from the shortness of the style, and ' 
from its being frequently masked at a certain age by the 
ascendant hairs of the ovary; so that its divisions seem 
to be separate to their base, and to be seated directly 
on that body, though they are really connected below, and 
orm a single column, as visible as in many of the neigh- 
bouring genera. The species of this genus are still exceed- 
ingly puzzling; and it is not impossible but that the M. 
ieurii may hardly be distinct from the M. velutina, 
Forsk., or the. M. incana, Heyne: it seems, too, to bear 
^ remarkable resemblance to Melhania ovata. But I have 
not sufficient data by which to determine their identity 
or their difference, From a herbaceous plant, as it appears 
at first, M. Leprieurii becomes in time a low woody shrub. 
