27 



*LINDLEYA mespiloides. 

 Medlar-like Lindleya, 



ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Rosaceje. § Quillaj^e, Endl. 



LINBLEYA. Calyx tubo turbinate, limbo quinquepartito. Corollce 

 petala 5, calycis fauci inserta, eiusdeni laciniis alterna, brevissime ungui- 

 culata, patentia. Stamina 15-20, disco annulari calycis faucem marginanti 

 inserta ; antberae laliceolatse, basi uncinato-reflexse, cruribus insequalibus, 

 connatis, biloculares. Ovaria 5, in unicum quinqueloculare coalita. Ovula 

 in quovis loculo 2, coUateraba, infra apicem affixa, pendula. Styli 5, termi- 

 nales ; stigmata subclavata. Capsula calyce persistente suffulta, ovato- 

 pentagona, Ugnosa, quinquesulcata, quinquelocularis, loculicide quinque- 

 valvis, loculis di- v. abortu monosperrais. Semina margine membranaceo 



cincta . . . . Arbor mexicana, glaberrima ; foliis sparsis, simplicibus, in- 



tegris, crenulatis, stipulis petiolaribus geminis, floribus ad apicem ramulorum 

 axillaribus, solitariis, pedunculatis, bracteatis, albis. Endl. gen. no. 6399. 



L. mespiloides, Humb. Bonp. Kunth. nov. gen. pi. 6. 239. t. 562. bis. 

 DeCand. Prodr. 2. 548. 



Semina ovalia, tenuia, alata, testa mucilaginosd vesiculosd. Cotyledones 

 tenues, plance. Radicula conica, exserta, hilo proxima. 



This plant is an evergreen tree of small size, looking very 

 much like Mespilus grandiflora, but with flowers as sweet- 

 scented as the Hawthorn bloom. It belongs to a small set of 

 Rosaceous plants, of which one, the Kageneckia crataegifolia, 

 has been already figured at t. 1836 of this work. The late 

 Professor Don attempted to distinguish them as a peculiar 

 natural order, but unwisely, and on erroneous grounds. That 

 they are really nothing more than Rosaceous plants is proved 

 by this plant grafting readily on the common Thorn and the 

 larger kinds of Cotoneaster ; in which way it is propagated. 



But although Lindleya and its allies are by no means to be 

 separated from Rosacese, they form a peculiar group, remark- 



* Named tbus by Humboldt and Kunth, in the year 1823, after the 

 present editor of the Botanical Register. 



