men, the under surface thickly covered with stellate 

 tufts of white hair intermixed with minute glands : 

 calyx clothed like the leaves : corolla twice or thrice 

 the length of the calyx, pubescent externally: sta- 

 mens twice the length of the corolla: berries small, 

 about the size of black pepper corns. 



AvicENNiA, (Linn.) 



This genus associates with Symporemeas in the 

 character of its placentation, but difFers in the seed. 

 Much uncertainty seems to exist among Sotanists 

 as to the limits of its species. Walpers has 2 

 species, but assigns to one of these no fewer than 

 7 distinguishable varieties, Asia, Africa, America, 

 Australia and the Phillipine Islands, each contri- 

 buting to the list. The two plants here figured are 

 considered by him identical, not even varieties. 

 Blume has not given figures of his plants, hence I 

 presume their supposed identity. Schauer in his 



Monograph describes 4 species, distributed under 

 two sections, viz. : 



r- 



himself however did not think them distinct, as he 

 afterwards reduced his A. oflBcinalis. In the Ameri- 

 can plant, the flowers are white, in the Asiatic one • 

 yellow, a difference which in so difficult a genus 

 ought not to be overlooked in the determination of 

 its species. 



1482. AvicENjviA ALBA (Blumc), leaves oblong, 

 lanceolate, acute, or slightly obtuse, glabrous, whit- 

 ish beneath. BL 



Tellicherry, Malabar Coast 



In addition to these brief characters, the habit of 

 the two plants is very distinct and is well preserved 

 in the figures. Admitting therefore that the Asiatic 

 plants are distinct from the American, they must 

 equally be viewed as distinct from each other and 



defined 



#' 



cuneate, coriaceous, glabrous above, glauco-pube- 

 scent beneath: peduncles axillary, solitary or sub- 

 panicled terminal, with several sessile capitula, or 



sum e calyce exsertus. 



2. "C^ato, stylus sub-nullus, stigmata in vertice, 

 ovarii fere sessilia." 



Walp 



officinalis 



1. ''Donatwy stylus manifestus, post corollse lap- ^ smgle terminal one: bracts and lobes of the 



calyx coriaceous, concave, ciliate, sub-acute: cor- 

 olla 4-cleft: stamens as long as the lobes, exserted: 

 style about the length of the ovary, slightly cleft at 

 the apex, segments acute, approximated. 



A. alba (Blume), leaves oblong, elliptico-lanceolate, 

 acute at both ends, glabrous above, whitish pulver- 

 ulent beneath: peduncles terminal, from the axils of 

 the last pair of leaves of the branches, long, slender; 

 flowers capitate: capitula compact, many-flower- 

 ed: bracts and calyx villous on the back, densely 

 ciliate : corolla scarcely exceeding the calyx, 4-cleft; 

 lobes acutish: stamens about half the length of the 

 lobes, sub-incluse : ovary densely hairy on the 



apex; style short, 2-cleft; lobes dilated, lanceolate, 

 spreading. 



1483. Premna cordifolia (Roxb.), ramuli, cymes 

 and petiols, of the younger leaves, villous : leaves 

 short, petioled, cordate, or cordato-ovate, acuminate, 

 entire, bullate, glabrous on both sides, shining above, 

 1481. AyicENNiA TOMENTosA (Liu. Blume, ^. dull and pale beneath : panicles terminal, small, con- 



section along with Jj, tomentosa^ which name he re- 

 stricts to the American plant. On the correctness or 

 otherwise of that division, I am unable to offer any 

 opinion, never having seen it, but I am not prepared 

 to go along with him in viewing the two plants 

 here represented as the same species, though nearly 

 allied. When naming the drawings, I adopted 

 Blume's views and still, perhaps erroneously, retain 

 his name. He may be in error in considering the 

 Java plant identical with the American one, but not 

 in viewing his %S. alba as distinct from his A. tomen- 

 tosa, if I have not erred in viewing these as his 

 plants. 



officinalis^ Lin. Schauer), leaves obovato-cuneale, ob- 

 tuse, glauco-tomentose beneath. Bl. 



Malabar coast, and generally to be met with in 

 salt marshes on both coasts of the Indian peninsula. 



tracted-coiymbose: calyx cup-shaped, 2-lipped, both 

 lips roundish, entire: corolla bilabiate, about the 

 length of the tube of the calyx. — A shrub from 3 to 

 6 feet high, with slender, erect, simple branches, 

 A small tree or considerable shrub, with obovate, villous above and terminating in, usually, a compact 

 obtuse, coriaceous leaves, light green above, whitish corymb of yellowish flowers: leaves from 3 to 6 in- 

 or greyish beneath; petiols densely villous above: ches long, the petiols and veins more or less villoso- 



peduncles axillary and terminal, trichotomously pan- 

 icled; branches short, stout, terminating in a single 

 capitulum, (ft elongated and bearing several sessile, 

 lateral ones; bracts concave, coriaceous, 3 to 

 each flower, and, like the calyx lobes, ciliate, 

 calyx 5-parted, lobes ovate, obtuse, glabrous. Cor- 

 olla scarcely exceeding the calyx, 4-cleft, lobes 

 ovate, acute, pubescent on the back, yellow: sta- 

 mens 4, about equal, scarcely exserted; anthers 

 globose, deeply furrowed between the cells. Ovary 

 ovate, pubescent, imperfectly 4-celled, with 2 ovules 

 in each, pendulous from the free apex of an erect, 

 central placenta: style short, cleft at the apex: fruit 

 oblique, ovate, compressed, apiculate, roundish at the 

 base, supported by the persistent calyx and bracts. 



Schauer has revived for this species Linnaeus' 

 specific name "OflBcinalis," and I think correctly, 

 as it differs in some points from the American plant 

 to which he restricts Linnaeus' "tomentosa." Linne 



bullate^ 



glabrous, when dry whitish or somewhat scariose- 

 like, the lips nearly equal, broad, rounded on the 

 margin, and generally not so distinctly pointed as in 

 the figure : upper lip of the corolla rounded, entire, 

 concave; the lower one 3-lobed, the middle lobe 

 larger, somewhat exceeding the upper, concave; 

 throat densely villous, stamens and style about the 

 length of the corolla. 



This plant is met with in hedges and among low 

 bushes, but generally solitary, the station whence 

 the specimen represented came is not marked, but 

 I have often met with it, occasionally in Coimbatore. 

 It agrees generally so well with Schauer's character 

 and description, that I feel disposed to suspect the 

 difference between the character and figure of the 

 corolla as an accidental, perhaps a typographical 

 enor, as Roxburgh does not allude to it, but the 

 short style of my plant cannot be so accounted for. 



( 16 



