LI 
428 FLORA VITIENSIS. 
This genus has recently been augmented by several species, so that it is now composed of—1, С. biflora, 
Forst. Char. Gen. p. 44; Prodr. n. 266; et Icon. (ined.) t. 195; from the Society Islands (Forster! in 
Mus. Brit.) and Samoan group (U. S. Expl. Exped.); 2, C. grandiflora, Brongn. et Gris in Bull. Soc. 
Bot. Fr., Nov. 1863, p. 377 ; from New Caledonia (Vieillard and Pancher) ; 3, C. multifiora, Brongn. et Gris 
1. c., from New Caledonia (Vieillard, n. 48); 4, С. Harveyi, Seem., from Viti (Harvey!) ; and probably a 
fifth species, which was also collected by Forster in the Society Islands, but which was not named by 
him, and which, at the British Museum, is mixed іп one sheet with C. biflora, and on another sheet bears 
the name C. bifłora, written by Pallas, through whose hands these specimens had passed before they were 
purchased by the British Museum. This last species resembles my C. Harveyi, but the specimens are 
too imperfect to be described. : қ 
The following note on the genus, by Brongniart and Gris, extracted from the * Bulletin de la Société 
Botanique de France,’ 1863, is too important to be here omitted :— 
“The collections made by Messrs. Pancher and Vieillard in New Caledonia include, in bud, flower, and 
fruit, a plant which we recognize as belonging to the genus somewhat imperfectly deseribed by Forster as 
Crossostylis. The size of its flowers induced us to give it the specific name grandiflora, and M. Pancher, in 
his last communication, has been led to give it the same name. Crossostylis biflora, Forst., has been 
described and figured recently by Asa Gray in the Botany of Captain Wilkes’ Voyage (U. 8. Expl. Exped. 
p. 610, t. 77), but he did not see it in fruit, and his description of the flower, when compared with spe- 
cimens of this species, seems incorrect in a rather important point, relating to the structure of the ovary. 
Crossostylis biflora and C. grandiflora agree in all essential points of structure; they differ slightly in the 
form of their sepals and petals, and the number of their stamens, viz. twenty in C. biflora, according to 
Forster and Asa Gray, though we noticed twenty-one to twenty-four in the flowers of a specimen of this 
species from New Caledonia, and twenty-eight in О. grandiflora, one being in front of each petal, and 
six in front of each sepal. The same appendages are found at the base of the stamens within the calyx- 
tube. The ovary, which is plunged for half its length in the receptacle, and whose upper convex surface is 
marked with radiating striæ, has been described and figured by Asa Gray as having twelve cells with two 
ovules in each; Forster says the fruit is one-celled. In examining carefully the ovary of the two species at 
our disposal, we ascertained clearly, even in young buds, that the partitions observed by the learned 
American botanist are nothing but elevated plates springing from the base and sides of the ovary, but which 
in a later stage are neither united with nor even close to the upper free wall of the ovary. They are but 
incomplete partitions, prominent in С. biflora, and not more than slightly prominent nerves in O. grandiflora. 
These laminæ, however, indicate the number of carpels constituting the ovary, to each of which correspond 
two ovules placed on the central column which runs through the ovary. This column, at first very short, 
lengthens as the fruit grows, and as its upper surface becomes more convex. The ovules, which at first are 
horizontal, are ultimately suspended at the ends of rather long stiff funiculi in the fertile seeds. The stigma 
has as many small linear lobes as there are carpels, and these lobes, differently placed, are frequently 
united in four bundles, as Forster has observed. The carpels in C. biflora appear to be from twelve to 
sixteen ; in C. grandiflora the number is equal to that of the stamens, viz. twenty-eight. Тһе fruit, which 
no one but Forster has described, seems to us to differ much from his description. That of С. grandi- 
Йога externally much resembles Forster’s figure, but it is not an indehiscent berry. The upper convex 
part, forming a hemispherical lid, marked with radiating striæ, falls off after the rupture of the central 
column above the insertion of the seeds. This central column, which remains in the middle of the.base 
of the fruit, contains, in those we have seen, many abortive ovules and some fertile ripe seeds. These 
last were suspended at the ends of stiff subulate funiculi, which ended in a white, spongy, lobed caruncle, 
partly covering the seed. When this seed falls, the little cellular excrescence does not remain attached 
to it as an arillus, but to the funiculns. The presence of these seminal appendages in a fruit with many 
fertile seeds would resemble pulp, and this led Forster to call this fruit ‘bacca unilocularis polysperma. 
The seed is oval, with a black, smooth, shining testa; the perisperm is fleshy, thick, and the straight 
embryo is axillary; its radicle is directed upwards towards the hilum, and its cotyledons, not broader 
than the young stem, are elliptical, convex, and applied to each other. These characters of the seed con- 
firm the relation of this genus to, Legnotidee.—Since this note was read, we have seen in M. Vieillard's col- 
lection (No. 43) a third species of Crossostylis, which we propose to call C. multiflora. It differs from both 
the preceding species, firstly, by — forked peduncles, with much smaller flowers; secondly, by 
the much smaller number of the parts of the androecium and pistil, which are both reduced to eight, four 
stamens being opposite to the sepals and four to the petals.” 
с. Harveyi, (sp. nov.) Seem. ; glabra; ramulis crassis, nodosis; foliis obovatis v. ovalibus, 
obtusis retusisve, basi acutis, integerrimis, coriaceis ; pedunculis 2- v. dichotome 4-floris ; stylo 6-8- 
fido ; ovario 6-8-radiato, incomplete 6-8-loculari.— Viti, locality not specified (Harvey ! in Mus. Brit.) 
This species has smaller and more coriaceous leaves than C. biflora, from Tahiti (Forster!) The 
branches are stout. Petiole $ inch long. Blade 3-31 inches long, 14-2 inches broad, and quite glabrous 
