BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 185 
subquadratze, albumine vix breviores, radicula brevissima supera 
erecta.—Arbor, foliis digitatis, foliolis i» petiolum auriculatis. 
OLDFIELDIA ArmICANA, Benth. $^ Hook. 
Foliorum petiolus communis tenuis, 4-6-pollicaris, pube minutissima 
fuscescens, dorso infra foliolorum insertionem glandulis 2 parvis 
obliquis instructus. Foliola 5-7, majora, 4—6-pollicaria v. longiora, 
breviter petiolulata, oblonga, acuminata, basi longe angustata, sub- 
membranacea, penninervia et reticulato-venosa, glabra, impunctata 
et eglandulosa, lateralia minora et proportione latiora. Capsule — 
pedicello semipollicari fultze, 9-10 lin. diametro, vertice obtusissime, 
glabræ, lzves, lateribus (ad dehiscentiam) leviter sulcatis. 
The structure and insertion of the seeds, and the general appearance 
of the fruit, point at once to Euphorbiacez, and the seeds, or at least 
the ovules,.in pairs in each cell, to the tribes of Buzee or Phyllanthea, 
as the most probable affinities of this genus, the flowers being as yet 
unknown. The dehiscence of the capsule is, however, totally different 
from that of any other genus familiar to me ; for even in Omalanthus, 
where the dehiscence of the pericarp is loculicidal, the endocarp 
separates into two cocci, and the furrows of the fruit correspond to the — 
dissepiment ; whilst in Oldfeldia there is not the slightest external 
mark corresponding to the dissepiments, the furrows are opposite the —— 2 
middle of the cells, and the dissepiments themselves are thin in pro- 
portion to the valves, and remain attached to the valves as they open, 
breaking off irregularly from the central column, which remains free, 
and bears the seeds, as in other Euphorbiacee.— Bent. 
We did not fail to sow some of the seeds immediately on their arrival, 
and they have now begun to germinate. At the time our plate was - 
prepared, the seedlings exhibited the appearance represented at Pl. VI. — 
fig. 1. The plumule has since become more developed, and already 
exhibits alternately arranged leaves, as might be expected in plants of 
the Natural Order Euphorbiaceae. — - 
It is to be regretted that no precise localities have yet been stated for 
the O/dfieldia. It does not appear to inhabit the coast, and is probably 
common in the forests, or what at Sierra Leone is called “bush,” 
in the interior. We have sought, hitherto, in vain, for any published 
account of the commercial value or naval adaptations of the timber of 
this tree, but we have received some interesting particulars from our — 
VOL. II. 25 
