Dr. Walker-Arnott on Samara laeta, Linn. 367 



In Carey's edition of Roxburgh's ' Flora Indica,' vol. ii. pp. 299 and 300^ Dr. 

 Waliich has described two plants, for which Alph. DeCandoUe has since con- 

 stituted the genus Choripetalum. Of the one, Ch. undulatum, the female only is 

 known, and the analysis accords well with that of the female of Samara loeta : we 

 find the same short stamens, thickish style and stigma in both. Of the second, 

 Ch. aiirantiacum. Dr. Waliich only knew the male, in which the stamens were 

 twice the length of the petals, and the ovary rudimentary without any style : 

 but in his ' List,' No. 2299, he associates with it a specimen from Dr. Wight 

 in fruit ; and, as a corresponding one from Dr. Wight is before me, I am en- 

 abled to refer to Dr. Wallich's, and consequently to M. Alph. DeCandoUe's 

 plant with considerable certainty, although there were no specimens of either 

 among the valuable collections I received from Dr. Waliich. Since Dr. Wight's 

 I'eturn to India, he has met with the same at Quilon, and I believe there only ; 

 and among the specimens transmitted to me are three forms, all agreeing in 

 habit, inflorescence and foliage, sent without any hesitation as one species. 

 One of these shows the stamens exserted, and accords well with Dr. Wal- 

 lich's description ; a second has the flowers expanded, but the petals shorter, 

 and the stamens about the length of the corolla ; the third is in immature 

 fruit. The differences are certainly not less than in the three forms of the 

 Samara Iceta alluded to. It may be said, that the second form with expanded 

 flowers and short stamens might, when further developed, have exhibited the 

 stamens elongated, but in their present state they are more developed than 

 in the Banksian specimens of the S. loeta ; and if we allow that the stamens 

 would have been elongated when fully developed in the one case, we may in 

 the other. I cannot satisfy myself however that such is the cause in either 

 case ; but I refer to this parallel instance to bear on the point, that there 

 seems no reason for supposing that the six specimens of S. loeta differ spe- 

 cifically*. In 1833, while examining the genus Hedyotis, I was much struck 

 with the great length of the filaments on some specimens and their shortness 

 on others of what I could not otherwise believe to be distinct species : in 

 these the style was usually in an inverse proportion, but in both states was 

 fertile. I am by no means certain if the structure in Samara or Choripetalum 

 ought to be considered analogous. 



* I have no doubt that the inconstancy in the length of the stamens applies to Myrsine ; and there- 

 fore that some of the sections proposed by M. Alph. DeCandolle are of no value. 



VOL. XX. 3 c 



