146 



the Royal Botanic Garden of Copenhagen, " an excellent 

 practical botanist, and one of the best of men." I need not 

 say what pleasure it gives me to be the medium of making 

 the genus public. 



I feel very incompetent to speak of the affinities of this 

 grass ; partly owing to my limited acquaintance with Exotic 

 Grasses, and partly because my specimens are not in so per- 

 feet a state as were to be wished. If I am correct in con- 

 sidering the flower to possess only a single, two-valved, floral 

 covering, (and I can find no trace of any other,) then the 

 genus may be looked upon as allied to Asprella, Solander, 

 [Leersia, Sw.) : but my ignorance on these points is the less 

 to be regretted, since Mr. Brown is charged with the publi- 

 cation of this and the whole of the rich collection of Grasses 

 in the possession of the Hon. the East India Company; — and 

 assuredly no one is better or so well qualified for the task. 



Tab. LXX VI. Holboellia ornithocephala. Plant : — natural 

 size. Fig. 1, Portion of the rachis, with a flower. Fig. 

 2, Sterile flower. Fig. 3, Flower, containing a pistil. 

 Fig. 4, Portion of a leaf. Fig. 5, Side-view of a seed. 

 Fig. 6, View of the underside of a seed : — magnified. 



[TAB. LXX VII.] 



SPATHICARPA HASTIFOLIA. 



MoNCEciA MoNANDRiA. Nat. Ord. Aroide^. 



Gen. Char. Spathicarpa {genus novum.) Spatha lineari- 

 oblonga, acuminata, subcymbiformis, mai'ginibus involu- 

 tis; intus linea media longitudinal! floribus masculis et 

 foemineis immixtis staminibusque sterilibus lentiformibus 



WallJch, in the same place, " consecratum amico et prseceptori carissimo; 

 Frederico Ludoiico Holbocl, Horti Botanici Regii Hafniensis hortulano dex- 

 teiTimo, botanicoperitissimo, operi Hornemanni Flora Dania (Eco7iomica nuncu- 

 pato aliusque contributor], quique hortuin Calcuttse ditavit thesauris seminum 

 frequentibus, amplissimis, omniuinque fertilissimis." 



