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378 
On TeTRACRYPTA and Kokooxa, Genera of Ceylon Plants ; by G.H.K. 
Tuwaires, Esa., Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Pera- 
denia, Ceylon. 
(With two Plates, Tas. V., VI.) 
I. TgrRACRYPTA, Gard. et Champ. Nat. Ord. Hamamelidese ? 
(Anisophyllea, Br.; Anisophyllum, Don.) 
Tetracrypta cinnamomoides, Gard. et Champ. im Hook. Journ. Bot. et 
Kew Garden Misc. v. 1. p. 314*. Anisophyllum Zeylanicum, Benth. 
in Niger Flora, p. 342, et Appendix, p. 515. Tas. V. 
Has. Mountains of the Central and Western Provinces of Ceylon; 
alt. 3000 ped. Herb. Hort. Bot. Reg. Perad. n. 2205. Nom. 
vern. * Wellepeyenna.” 
Arbor ramosa 40-50-pedalis, cortice levi. Rami inferiores horizon- 
tales, superiores suberecti; ramulis appresse puberulis. Folia dis- 
ticha, coriacea, breve petiolata, lanceolata, cordato-acuminata, basi 
angustata, 5-nervia, utrinque glaberrima ; juniora rubra; paria ver- 
natione opposita dissimilia squamzeformia, unico 5-nervi marginibus 
involutis demum explanato foliaceo, altero 1-nervi plano stipulam 
referente cito deciduo. Racemi supra-axillares, solitarii v. gemini, 
strigoso-puberuli. Flores parvi, subsessiles, bracteati. Bractee mi- 
nute. Calycis limbus superus, 4-fidus, lobis acutis, valvulis persis- 
tentibus. Petala minuta, carnosula, laciniata, estivatione induplica- 
* A very good description of this curious plant will be found in the first volume 
of this Journal; but Mr. Thwaites's being fuller, and explaining the re 
vernation, we have had no hesitation in giving it here. The Natural Order of Te- 
tracrypta appears to us doubtful; but the relationship with Hamamelidee is, 99 
by Dr. Gardner, very strong, and until the structure of the seed shall 
be known it may be referred provisionally to that Order. The generic name 
occasioned a great deal of confusion. Brown first proposed the genus, for a West 
African species that yields a large edible fruit (in Hort. Soc. Trans. vol. v. p. 446)» 
under the name of Anisophyllea, but gave no description. Don, in his West African 
collections, applied the name Anisophyllum, Don, MSS., to the same plant. Mr. 
Bentham, in the Niger Flora, took up Don’s name for the West African plant, re- 
ferred it doubtfully to Rhizophoree, and added in a note a description of the Ceylon 
species drawn up from Mr. Walker’s specimens. In the same year, or perhaps the 
previous year, Gardner and Champion published Teracrypta in the * Madras Journal 
of Science’ we believe, and subsequently in the Kew Garden Miscellany, and referred 
_ it to Hamamelidee. In the supplement to the Niger Flora Mr. Bentham points 
this out, and states that the name Anisophyllea of Brown has the priority. Under 
these circumstances we have thought it desirable to retain the name 
both because it was accompanied with the first published account of the genus, and 
because it was the only one to which Mr. Thwaites appears to have had access. 
