76 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 



marks, that although it appears to belong to Scrophulariacece, on 

 account of its didynamous stamens, it bears in its habit more 

 the aspect of the Solanacea, and from this circumstance, the 

 specific name of L. ambiguum was evidently given to fhe species 

 he described. 



Professor Kunth, in his ' Nov. Gen. et Sp.' li. p. 360, observes, 

 that this genus may be considered as nearly allied to Maurandia 

 and Antirrhinum molle, but I cannot perceive any such analogy. 

 Dr. Lindley, in his ' Nat. Syst. Bot.' p. 292, placed this genus 

 in Scrophulariaceie, among the tribe Veronica, and Dr. Endlicher 

 in his * Gen. Plant.' follows this example ; lastly, Mr. Bentham in 

 his admirable monograph of this order arranges it in his tribe 

 Gratiolea, and his subtribe Aptosimece (DC. Prod. x. 344) . After 

 a careful examination of the structure of this genus, I have come 

 to a very different conclusion, and hope to show, by good evidence, 

 that its true place is near Atropa and Lycium, and therefore not 

 among the Scrophulariacece. The structure of the corolla in 

 Leucophyllum precisely corresponds with that of Atropa, having 

 a campanulate tube, with a small border slightly obhque, of five 

 nearly equal rounded lobes, which are imbricately disposed in 

 aestivation, and five somewhat unequal stamens, two being always 

 shorter ; and it sometimes happens that the anthers of one of the 

 three other stamens are abortive, or the fifth stamen altogether 

 wanting^ and such is the state, I conclude, of the species described 

 by Bonpland, as I have noticed in Hartweg's specimen, although, 

 in Galeotti's plant of L. ambiguum, I have found the flowers to be 

 always pentandrous, as in L. campanulatum. All the species of 

 Leucophyllum resemble Lycium in their fruticose habit, with 

 solitary, axillary, violet-coloured flowers, and one species has an 

 evident tendency to become spinous, like this last-mentioned 

 genus. Had Leucophyllum possessed a baccate fruit, its position 

 would unquestionably have been between Atropa and Lycium ; 

 but as it is capsular, it will fall into a new tribe, which may be 

 called Leucophyllea, that will stand between the Hyosajamea and 

 Atropece [huj. op. vol. i. 166). The following is an outline of its 

 generic features ; 



Leucophyllum, Bonpl. (char, reform.).— Ca/ya? parvus, pro- 

 funde 5-fidus, laciniis sequahbus, lanceolatis, erectis. Corolla 

 campanulata, tubo amplo infundibuliformi, limbo 5-fido, sub- 

 bilabiato, lobis fere sequalibus, antico subminori reflexo 3 

 posticis erectiusculis, omnibus oblongis, obtusis, astivatione 

 imbncatis. Stamina 5, insequalia, inclusa, coroUze dimidio 

 longitudme, 2 antica breviora, quinto interdum rudimentario, 

 rarms omnmo deficiente ; filamenta imo tubi affixa, glabra, basi 

 crassmscula, apice subdeclinata ; antherce sagittato-bilob2e,'lobis 

 apice nexis, longitudinaliter intus dehiscentibus, quinti inter- 



