54 MR. J. MIERS ON THE BARRINGTONIACE. 
from Fiji, collected by Dr. Seemann, and which, singularly enough, he referred to Bar- 
ringtonia speciosa’. In thus alluding to Rhizophoracee, I mean the order as established 
by the late Mr. Robert Brown’, excluding the Legnotidee and Cassipouree*, since 
united with it‘, but which, it seems to me, ought to be located elsewhere, because they 
differ widely in the habit of the plants; and in their yielding a resinous juice, in the 
presence of stipules, in a more panicular inflorescence, in their flowers with laciniated 
or fimbriated petals, in their semi- or wholly superior ovary, in their fruit containing 
numerous seeds imbedded in pulp, each seed with a terete dicotyledonous embryo 
enclosed in copious albumen. There seems, indeed, but little intimate relationship be- 
tween them, while the true Rhizophoracee form a well-marked family, the uniformity of 
which is destroyed by its association with the groups before mentioned. 
The Barringtoniacee have no representative in the American continent, their exist- 
ence being confined to the Old World, over the tropical portions of which they аге 
widely spread, extending from Africa throughout the Indian and Malay peninsulas, 
growing in the numerous islands of the Malayan archipelago, in Australasia, in the 
broadly dispersed islands of the Pacific Ocean, but never reaching the continent of the 
New World, where the Lecythidacee exclusively occupy their place. 
This is. a fact of some value in the question of the geographical distribution of plants, 
and powerfully tends to support the opinion of those who contend for the separate origin 
of distinet types. 
The genera already described by botanists are Barringtonia, Butonica (which I have 
restored), Stravadium, Careya, Planchonia, and Petersia, to which are now added 
Agasta, Пототта, Megadendron, and Chydenanthus, all marked by peculiar characters, as 
the following clavis will show :— 
GENERUM DISTRIBUTIO. 
A. Calycis limbus in alabastro indivisus, maximus, oblongus, demum in lobos 
2 ruptus. 
a. Embryo dicotyledoneus: semina plurima . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. BARRINGTONIA- 
б. Embryo mesopodus: semen solitarium . . . қ ‘ . 2. ÁÀGASTA. 
B. Calycis limbus in alabastro indivisus, mediocris vel а onm in aos 
8—4 ruptus. Embryo mesopodus: semen solitarium . . . . . . 3. BUTONICA. 
C. Calycis limbus in alabastro sectus. Sepala 4 imbricata. 
c. Ovarium 2-loculare. 
* Embryo mesopodus: semen solitarium magnum, pericarpium siccum. . 4. STRAVADIUM. 
d. Ovarium 4-loculare. 
** Embryo dicotyledoneus: semina plurima in pulpa nidulantia . . . . 5. PLANCHONIA. 
*** Embryo mesopodus: semina plurima in pulpa nidulantia . . . . . 6. CAREYA. 
**** Embryo mesopodus : semen solitarium, magnum; periearpium siccum . 7. DoxomMa. 
*x*** Embryo ignotus: semina plurima, linearia; pericarpium siccum, in alas 
4 maximas membranaceas expansum . . . . . . . . =. . . . 8. PETERsIA. 
D. Calycis limbus sectus: sepala 3—4, valvata. Embryo mesopodus: semen soli- 
tarium, magnum; pericarpium siccum . . . . . . 9. MEGADENDRON. 
E. Calycis limbus integer, cupularis: inflorescentia опа а . . . 10. CHYDENANTHUS. 
* Flor. Viti. i. p. 82. * Gen. Remarks, p. 549. * For reasons given by Blume (Mus. Bot. Lugd. i. p. 126). 
* Endl. Gen. p. 1186; Benth. Hook. Gen. Pl.i.p.678. ` 
