We are indebted to Mr. Bentham for the foregoing 

 extracts from an unpublished paper read before the Linnean 

 Society in May of the present year, and comprising the 

 characters of several new genera, and species of this curious 

 section of Polygonese. 



The subject of the present article was found by Douglas 

 on the rocky gravelly banks of rivers in New Albion. 



It is a hardy herbaceous plant, forming a patch of neat 

 dark green leaves which throw up in abundance, in May 

 and June, their woolly scapes terminated by masses of yel- 

 lowish white flowers. It thrives equally in peat earth, or 

 common soil, best in a damp situation, and may be increased 

 by cuttings of its well ripened shoots, struck in peat and 

 sand in an almost exhausted hotbed. 



' We have illustrated the structure of this rare genus 

 in more detail than can usually be afforded in a work so 

 cheap as this. I. Is a magnified view of a flower as seen 

 externally. 2. Is a section to show the connection of the 

 stamens at their base, and how they are placed by threes in 

 face of the inner segments of the calyx. 3. An ovary with 

 its recurved styles. 4. A fruit enveloped in the permanent 

 calyx. 5. A ripe nut. 6. A seed taken from out of the 

 latter. 7. A section of a seed to shew the position of the 

 embryo in the albumen. 



