Il# Mr. Lindley on a New Genus of Plants, 



four or five ovate teeth, which are somewhat imbricated during 

 aestivation, but which are separated by the growth of the petals 

 long before the expansion of the flower ; the veii|s of the calyx 

 are remarkably reticulated, and when cut, a considerable quan- 

 tity of mucilaginous viscid fluid is exuded. The petals are 

 whitish-green, hypogynous, with a convolute aestivation ; their 

 ungues are spatulate, and as long as the calyx ; their lamims 

 oblong, spreading flat, and then overlapping each other at the 

 base ; at the point of separation of the unguis and lamina is a 

 small callus, and on each side a notch upon the margin. The 

 stamens are seated upon a long, filiform, subclavate, smooth 

 torus } the filaments are consolidated into a capitate five-toothed 

 cup, nearly closed at the orifice, and on the outside of this cup 

 are placed the antherce, three to each tooth ; the latter are two- 

 celled, wath divaricating cells, which open longitudinally, and 

 are so entangled with each other that the whole surface of the 

 cup appears, when the antherse have burst, to consist of a single 

 many-celled anthera. The pollen is spherical and smooth. he 

 ovarium is seated within the cup of stamens, and is so entirely 

 concealed that it cannot be discovered till some part of the cup 

 is removed by violence ; it is ovate, smooth, and formed of five 

 inseparable cells, each of which has two ovula placed one above 

 the other, and attached to their placenta by their inner margin ; 

 the stigma is sessile, with five radiating lobes. From the 

 Chinese drawing, the half-ripe fruit appears to be fleshy, with 

 five deep angles, and five cells, without any remains of calyx, 

 and with a slight appearance of separation between the lobes. 

 The ripe fruit is an obovate, five-angled, five-celled, five- 

 valved, retuse, woody capsule, with a loculicidal dehiscence, 

 and no separable axis. The seeds are attached one to each 

 side of the valves, and are expanded at their lower end into a 

 wing. 



From this description it is obvious that, with the single ex^ 

 ception of the contents of the seed, we are in possession of all 

 that it is essential to know of the structure of this plant. The 

 next subject of consideration is its affinity. 



The stellate pubescence, the thickening of the petiole at the 

 point where it expands into the lamina, the station of the sta- 

 mens -upon a long, filiform torus, the external position of th« 



