174 



1 



[TAB, L.] 



MACRiEA, A NEW 



FROM CHILE 



Memoir of Mr 



genus, published in Brande's Journal of Science, v. 25. p. 104, 

 I should not have thought of presenting any farther observa- 

 tions, only that I have for a long time had the plate en- 

 graved, and the description of two species of the genus 



(Xeropetalon MSS, 



Circumstances 



J 



over which I had no control, prevented their appearance, 

 and now I should scarcely have thought them worthy oi 

 meeting the public eye, were it not that a figure of the genus 

 is still a desideratum, and that I have been more fortunate 



Mr 



My 



derived from M 



his 



Lindley himself, who kindly gave me a specimen from 

 Herbarium, as a genus allied to Frankenia. That author, in 

 the Memoir above quoted, has alluded to its affinity with 

 FrankeniacecB^ and has pointed out the differences in the strpc- 

 ture of the ribs of the calyx. In examining this, and other 

 species which I have since received from the Horticultural 

 Society, and from Mr. Cruickshanks of Valparaiso, Mr. 

 Arnott and myself were forcibly struck with their similarity 

 in many points to the Caryophylle(B and CistinecBj as well as 

 the Linece. From all of these Macrma differs in its mono- 

 phyllous calyx, and in the nature, and especially the dehis- 

 cence, of the capsule, and from the latter more particularly 

 in the curved embryo. 



There is another point of resemblance to which Mr. Lind- 

 ley has alluded, namely, its affinity with the GeraniacecB. He 

 observes, « If we can understand the axis of the capsule of 

 Macrma to be an elongated torus, we have then a fruit of a 

 sufficientlv similar ctrnptnt^o +r^ u^ ^^*v.v.„«^;i t^ fLnt of Gr^^' 





aniace(B, Rutace^, and other neighbouring tribes" Still 1 



confess that the habit of our plants is so entirely at 



must 



variance 



