224 Mr. J. Miers on the Affinities of the Icacinaceae. 



take an opportunity of pointing out the identity above mentioned. 

 Anacolosa was first proposed as a second section of his genus 

 Stemonurus by Dr. Blume in his ' Bijdr.' p. 6l8 : more recently, 

 he has with ample reason elevated it to the rank of a separate 

 genus {loc. cit. p. 250), with the important addition of analytical 

 details of its structure, in tab. 46 of the same work. The facts 

 there demonstrated prove beyond doubt, that they must con- 

 stitute not only very distinct genera, but that they must be re- 

 ferred to dififerent families. Anacolosa will consequently find its 

 place among the OlacacecB, and it is rendered more interesting, 

 as bearing considerable resemblance in some of its characters to 

 Cathedra [huj. op. vol. vii. p. 452) wdth which the Diplocrater 

 of Mr. Bentham (Hook. Kew. Misc. iii. p. 367) will be found 

 to be identical. Stemonurus, as an unquestionable member of 

 the IcacinacecBj will therefore be shortly investigated here. The 

 genus Platea of the same botanist, first proposed in his * Bijdra- 

 gen,' and of which more ample generic details are given in his 

 ' Mus. Lugd. Bat.^ p. 249, appears to me to differ in no essential 

 respect from Stemonurus : the stamens in this last-mentioned 

 genus vary considerably in length, not only in different species, 

 but often in the same individual, according to the age of the 

 flowers ; the number and length of the villous hairs that clothe 

 the summits of the filaments are not less variable; in some 

 cases these hairs are almost obsolete and scarcely discernible, so 

 that the stamens are reduced to the state of those described in 

 the male flower of Platea, which differs in no other respect from 

 Stemonw'us ; the female flowers also agree in all essential points 

 with those of the genus last-mentioned, where, owing to the ex- 

 tremely caducous disposition of the petals and stamens, we often 

 find, in several species of Stemonurus, just what is described in 

 the character of Platea. As Lepionurus does not belong to the 

 IcacinacecB, I shall defer making any observation on that genus, 

 until we come to treat of the genera of the Olacacece. 



ICACINA. 



This genus, which, as the first discovered, may be considered as 

 the type of the family to which it belongs, was founded by Adr. 

 de Jussieu in 1823, upon a plant from Senegal, bearing much the 

 habit of Chrysobalanus Icaco, whence the derivation of its generic 

 name. It was arranged by DeCandolle in his ' Prodromus,' i. 

 534, as a genus " Olacineis affine,^^ and subsequently was placed 

 in the same family by Mr. Bentham, as the type of his tribe 

 Icacinea. I may here remark, that in the young state, the stigma 

 is distinctly 3-cleft, and the style is short, erect and straight as in 

 Mappia ; it is owing to its elongation while yet in bud, that it 

 becomes incurved, and to pressure against the petals, that its 



