506 



XLVII. COMBRETACE.E. 



^Gyrocarpns 



5 lines broad.— Pers. Syn. i. 143 ; G. amencanus, Jacq. ; Meissn. m DC Prod. 

 XV 247 ■ G. asiatlcus, WiUd. ; Meissn. 1. c. 248 ; G. acumtnatus, Meissn. 

 1. c. ; G. spJienopterus, E. Br. ; Endl. Iconogr. t. 43 ; Meissn. 1. c. ; G. rugosus, 

 K. Br. ; Meissn. 1. c. 



N. Australia. Victoria river, Bynoe, F. MueUer. 

 Oueenslaud. Gilbert river, P. MueUer ; Port Denison, Fitzalan ^ 

 Also in Columbia and Central America, in tropical Asia, the eastern Archipelago, and 

 islands of the Pacllic. All the writers who, unwilling to believe that the same species should 

 have 80 wide a geographical range, have distinguished several species of Gyrocarpus, have 

 espressed Some hesitation in doing so, for the characters assigned all break down when ap- 

 plied to other specimens than those actually described. The differences m the indunientum 

 and shape of the leaf are often much greater in different specimens from the same locality 

 than between those gathered at the greatest distances. None are more striking than in two 

 specimens from theVeejee Islands which, according to Seemaun's notes, represent the yoang 

 and the old trees. In the former the leaves are brge, broadly cordate and deeply ^■i""^';^* 

 fi-ured iu Jacq. To. Amer. t. 178, f. 80, and loosely tomentose on both sides ; m the latter 

 they are quite entire, glabrous, oiore acuminate and more acute at the base than in tne lorm 

 characterized as G. acuminatns, Meissn. The fruit-wings are usually longest in the Ame- 

 rican shortest in the Australian specimens, bdt not uniformly so even m the comparatively 

 few specimens preserved in herbaria. Glabrous and more or less hairy filaments occur m 

 India as well as in Australia. The tomentum of the leaves is even more inconstant thau 

 any other character. R. Brown's specimens have been unfortunately mislaid, but trom Jina- 

 licher's figure engraved from Bauer's drawin?, and from the vai-iety of Australian specimens 

 I have seen, I have uo doubt that he was right in the suspicion he expressed that his species 

 might not be different from the common one. 



