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IV. A Botanical Sketch 6f the Genus Concilium. By James Edward 

 Smitfi, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S. 



Read March 4, 1806. 



When the plants of New Holland were first examined, they 

 presented, as I have had several occasions to remark, so much 

 novelty and singularity to the systematic botanist, that the ut- 

 most caution was requisite in fixing their genera, and even, in 

 some instances, their species. The proteus-like nature of the 

 leaves of some kinds of Mimosa, Metrosideros, Emhothrium, Eri- 

 ostemon and others, might baffle the most acute observer, and 

 elude the most able discriminator. I am obliged to Mr. Salis- 

 bury for first suggesting that my Metrosideros lanceolata, linearis, 

 and saligna, Trans, of Linn. Soc. v. iii. 271, 272, are all varieties 

 of one species, and that there are still more of the same in the 

 gardens about London. I could scarcely have assented to this, 

 had I not lately seen, in the greenhouse of my friend Mr. 

 Cooper of Norwich, three plants raised from the seeds of one 

 capsule of Metrosideros, of which any botanist in the world, 

 not pre-informed, would make two, if not three, species. In 

 such cases experience must be our only guide ; and the most 

 lofty science is often obliged to stoop, even on more important 

 occasions, to the suggestions of this faithful nurse of truth. 



In the generic arrangement of such novel productions the 

 greatest botanists have been most sensible of the difficulty of 

 their task, and have proceeded with proportionate caution. 



Thus 



