70 



1-2-sperroa, evalvis, demum a basi ad apicem irregulariter debiscens. 

 Semina ovato-conica, erecta. Embryo perispermo mucilaginoso immer- 

 sus. Cotyledones contortuplicatae, in laminas 2 tceniseformes divissc. 

 Kadicula infers, recurva." 

 " Frutices aut suffrutices Canarienses ; erecti vel diffusi, foliis alternis vel 

 spursis, linearibus vel lanceolato-linearibus, integerrimis ; floribus ad 

 apices ramorum late paniculatis, vel axillaribus, pedunculatis, pedunculis 

 1-multifloris." 



" The genus Rhodorhiza is distinguished from Convolvulus 

 principally by its one-celled, and one or two-seeded capsule, 

 the dehiscence of which when thoroughly ripe, takes place ir- 

 regularly from the base upwards, its valves being obliterated. 

 These characters of the fruit bring it near to Parana, Burm., 

 but it has neither the calyx enlarged after flowering of that 

 genus, nor its two large round stigmas seated on the summit 

 of a long simple style, slightly bifurcated at its extremity. 

 Rhodorhiza forms a small group remarkable for its habit, the 

 types of which are Convolvulus floridus and scoparius, and to 

 these I unite R. glandulosa, n. sp., which differs from them 

 both by its simple style, easily separated however into two 

 branches, but its stigma is not capitate as in Porana. 



" The roots of both the original species are fragrant, and 

 yield the so-called oil of Rhodium by simple distillation; though 

 the first in a less degree, or sometimes, when young, scarcely 

 any. The original lignum rhodium, or podia plQa, of Diosco- 

 rides, which came from Macedonia, was certainly Linnseus's 

 Rhodiola rosea, figured as such by Parkinson in his Theatrum 

 Botanicum, after Lobel. * It grows,* he says, ' in the very 

 raggiest places on the mountaines of Pangle and Ingleborough.' 

 Soon after the discovery of the Canaries, this name was trans- 

 ferred to Convolvulus scoparius, and afterwards to several 

 American plants. It is called in the Islands Lena Noel, a 

 corruption of Lignum aloes, and though now in little request, 

 large quantities of it were formerly exported, and the plant 

 nearly extirpated. The apothecaries in Europe sold it both 

 as Lignum rhodium and as the Aspalathus of Dioscorides. It 

 soon however lost this latter name, which was handed over to 

 a wood brought from India, though the original Aspalathus 

 was a thorny leguminous shrub growing on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, probably Spartium villosum, according to Sib- 

 thorp, still called by the Greek , AairakaTOs or ' AcnraAaOeia" 

 [It seems probable that this name Aspalath was applied 

 by the Greeks to several spiny leguminous plants, especially 



