POLYADELPHIA. 345 



calyx. Of this the first example that presents itself 

 is Theobroma, the Chocolate tree, Mer'ian. Surin. t, 

 26, 63, Lamarck Eiicycl. t. 63S. The flowers have 

 not been seen fresh in Europe, and we only know 

 them from drawings made in the West Indies, one of 

 which, preserved in the Linnjean herbarium, is my 

 autiiority for the following descriptions. The fila- 

 ments are inserted between the long tapering segments 

 of a 5- cleft nectary, on its outside, and each bears at 

 its summit 4 sessile, obtuse, spreading anthers. 

 Aublet's figure of this genus, which Schreber and 

 Willdenow seem to have followed, represents but 2. 

 The fruit is perhaps most properly a berry with a 

 hard coat, whose seeds, when roasted, make choco- 

 late. Bubroma of Schreber, Guazuma Lamarck, t. 

 637, confounded by Linnaeus with the preceding ge- 

 nus, has similar filaments, but each bears 5 anthers ; 

 Jussieu and Cavanilles say 3. The fruit is a woody 

 capsule, with 10 rows of perforations. Ahroma, Jacq, 

 Hort. Find. v. 3. t. 1. Miller Illustr. t. 63, has 5 par- 

 cels of anthers, nearly sessile on the outside of the 

 nectary, between its obtuse, reflexed, notched lobes. 

 It is difficult to say how many anthers compose each 

 parcel, for the different accounts on record are totally 

 irreconcileable. We have found 3 ; the drawing sent 

 to Linn?EUS represents 6 ; and Miller has a much 

 greater number. Perhaps they may vary. In this 

 uncertainty the genus in question is best placed with 

 its natural allies in this order, wi'h a reltience \o it in 



italics at the end of Poli/addpJda Polyandna, Its 

 uu 



