BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 235 
distance from Apocynacee is really greater, though not so 
easily defined, the absolute character must be drawn from the 
strictly valvate æstivation of the corolla in some genera, from 
the presence of interpetiolar stipules in others, and, in all, the 
placentation is much more, if not absolutely, axile. There is 
also no follicular fruit, and probably no milky juice. The 
connexion with Gentianee need scarcely be adverted to, 
because it only exists through the Apocynacee. 
Three genera, Polypremum, Lachnopylis, and Gelsemium, 
must, however, absolutely be excluded ; the first, Polypremum 
has the æstivation of the corolla imbricate, not valvate, it 
has been placed by some among Rubiacee, but the ovary is 
entirely free, and we see no one character, by which it can be 
distinguished from Scrophulariacee. The structure of the 
flower is very near that of Microcarpea, and as in that genus 
and the whole of the Buddleiee, the leaves are connected by a 
membrane which in some species of Buddleia, expands into 
a foliaceous appendage very like a stipule, if not a real one. 
Lachnopylis has not been seen by us, but from the character 
given, we have little doubt thatit is the same as Nuria, an 
undoubted Scrophulariacea. | Gelsemium has been singu- 
larly unfortunate; anomalous enough in itself, it has been 
thought still more so from the mistake made by Fenzl (and 
pointed out by De Candolle) in describing for its fruit, the 
follicles of an Apocynum, which had been distributed with the 
flowering specimens of Gelsemium in Drummond’s New Or- 
leans (1833) collection. - The placentation in this genus is 
axile, the æstivation of the corolla is imbricate, and differs 
only from the most common form of bilabiate imbrication, by 
having one of the upper lobes overlapped on one side by one 
of the lateral lobes, instead of having both the upper lobes 
outside of all; in habit and many other characters, it is also 
not unlike the tribe Chelonee of Scrophulariacee, but the five 
perfect equal stamens are very unusualin that order, and the 
quadrifid apex of the style is not known to exist in any one of 
its numerous genera. It must, therefore, be rejected as an 
anomalous genus (or rather plant, for there is but only spe- 
