188 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Extract of a Letter from Mn. JAMES DRUMMOND. 
* Hawthornden Farm, Swan River, Dec. 28, 1851. 
"received your kind letter lately on the very day of my return 
from a long journey to the north of this place, of eighteen months’ 
duration. Endlicher’s ‘Genera’ has been of great use to me on this 
occasion. I have discovered several plants on this tour which evidently 
belong to new genera, and as soon as my collections arrive, which I 
expect in about a fortnight, I will make them up in sets and forward 
them to England without delay. Among the genera which I suppose 
new, there are two belonging to the Profeacee : one has the habit of 
Persoonia, but the seeds are nearly an inch long, and shaped like those 
of the ash; each follicle contains only one seed, and opens at the side. 
The other Proteaceous genus resembles Dryandra Fraseri in its foliage. 
The shrub grows tothe height of 12 or 15 feet. Its seed-vessels are of | 
the size and shape of a musket-ball, and contain each two seeds. A 
curious Cruciferous plant of my collection buries its seed-vessels in the 
earth, like the drachis hypogee. Ihave several new Rutaceous genera, 
and a very fine plant of the family of Asperifoliacee. This latter grows 
8 or 10 feet high, having a soft yet somewhat woody stem, like some 
of the large species of Echium. Tt has showy light blue flowers, and 
_ the mouth of the corolla is closed by a remarkable calyptra-like cover- 
ing, rising from the back of the anthers, consisting of five pieces 
spirally twisted ; the lower portions of these pieces are connected by 
closely interlaced fibres or cilia. Eventually the style and stigma rise 
above the spiral calyptra, forcing a passage through it. But among 
the most remarkable of my plants is a new leafless genus, belonging 
to Dilleniacee, having the general habits and appearance of Daviesia 
Juncea, while the blossoms themselves are like those of Candollea, and . 
have seven stamens; the filaments free, but the anthers united into a 
_ tube. Two climbing plants struck me as being curious: one has 
brownish-green flowers, shaped like a small Clematis; there are eight 
stamens, the four sepals are permanent, forming a kind of wings to aid 
the dispersion of the seeds. It probably belongs to Sapindacee. But 
to me the most remarkable of all the plants I found is a small deci- 
