5-toothed cup, nearly closed at the orifice, and on the 

 outside of this cup are placed the anthercB, three to each 

 tooth ; the latter are two-celled, with divaricating cells, 

 which open longitudinally, and are so entangled with each 

 other, that the whole surface of the cup appears, when 

 the antherae have burst, to consist of a single, many-celled 

 anthera. The po//e/^ is spherical and smooth. The ovarium 

 is seated within the cup of stamens, and is so entirely con- 

 cealed that it cannot be discovered till some part of the cup 

 is removed by violence ; it is ovate, smooth, and formed of 

 five inseparable cells, each of which has two ovula placed 

 one above the other, and attached to their placenta by 

 their inner margin ; the stigma is sessile, with five radiating 

 lobes. From the Chinese drawing, the half-ripe fruit 

 appears to be fleshy, with five deep angles, and five cells, 

 without any remains of calyx, and with a slight appearance 

 of separation between the lobes. The ripe fruit is an 

 obovate, 5-angled, 5-celled, 5-valved, retuse, woody cap- 

 sule, with a loculicidal dehiscence, and no separable axis. 

 The seeds are attached one to each side of the valves, and 

 are expanded at their lower end into a wing. 



" From this description it is obvious, that, with the 

 single exception of the contents of the seed, we are in pos- 

 session of all that it is essential to know of the structure of 

 this plant. The next subject of consideration is its affinity. 



" The stellate pubescence, the thickening of the petiole 

 at the point where it expands into the lamina, the station 

 of the stamens upon a long filiform torus, the external 

 position of the antherae, and the union of the filaments by 

 threes into a cup surrounding the ovarium, are all cha- 

 racters that forcibly call to recollection the genus Sterculia. 

 The calyx, indeed, in that genus is generally divided much 

 more deeply than in the plant now under consideration, 

 and the antherae are usually seated at the base of the 

 ovarium ; but, on the other hand, in Sterculia colorata of 

 Roxburgh, which, if a distinct genus (Erythropsis), as I am 

 inclined to believe, is nevertheless next of kin to Sterculia, 

 the calyx is of the same figure, and divided in the same 

 degree, and the antherae are also combined in a capitate 

 cup enclosing the ovarium. If, however, we pursue tiiis 

 comparison further, we find that, with the characters now 

 adverted to, the similarity ceases ; in Sterculia there are 

 no petals, the calyx has a valvular, not imbricate, aestiva- 



