570 



HYDRANaEACEvE. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



None of these appear to be of much use to man. Hydrangeas have been cultivated 

 as garden ornaments from the most ancient times in China and Japan. The leaves of 

 H. Thunbergii are dried in Japan, and used as a kind of tea, which for its excellence 

 they call Ama-tsja, or Tea of Heaven. Another sort of tea is furnished by Platycrater 

 arguta. — Siehold. 



Ilydrangea, L. 

 Horknsia, Juss. 

 Peautia, Comm. 

 Primula, Lour. 



; Cardiandra, S. et Z. 

 1 Platycrater, H. et Z. 

 Schizophragma, (S. ei Z, 

 \ Jamesia, Torr. et Gr. 



GENERA. 



Cornidia, R. P. 



Sarcostyles, Presl. 

 Broussaisia, Gaud. 



Adamia, Wall. 



Cyanitis, Reinw. 

 Bauera, Sm. 



Numbers. Gen. 9. Sp. 45. 



PMladdphaceiB. 

 Position. — Saxifragaceae. — Hydra NGEACEiE. — Cvmoniaceae. 

 CaprifoUacece. 



Hensloviace.^, (Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 20. fol. 1686. (July 1834) ; Martins Conspectus, No. 77 ; Ed. pr. 

 cxxiv. ; Endl. Gen. p. 291). Trees, with the habit and inflorescence of Myrobalans. Leaves opposite, 

 entire, without stipules. AVood regularly zoned, with very abundant vasiform tissue 

 (dotted ducts). Flowers by abortion (? ? • Calyx 5-parted, lined with a woolly 

 disk, with a valvate aestivation. 3 Stamens 5, alternate with the sepals, perigy- 

 nous, long, exserted, inflexed in aestivation ; anthers 2-celled, with a broad connec- 

 tive, the lobes oblique, bursting longitudinally. A rudiment of an ovary. ? 

 Ovary superior, 2-celled, with very numerous OATiles attached horizontally to a pla- 

 centa in the axis ; style cylindrical ; stigma obsoletely 2-lobed ; ovules with a large 

 conspicuous foramen next the hilum. Fruit a capsule, bursting through the cells into 

 2 valves. Seeds 00, minute, scobiform, with the skin drawn to a point and winged 



on one side, an oblong nucleus, and no albumen. Radicle next the hilum. 



After vain attempts at settling the true place of the genus Henslovia in the 

 Natural System (see the last edition. No. cxxiv.) , some specimens with ripe fruit, 

 for which I am indebted to Mr. Griffith, place the question nearly at rest. The 

 habit of the plant was evidently that of Viburnum ; but its superior ovary and inde- 

 finite OA-ules forbade any reference to Caprifoils. But Hydrangeads differ from that 

 Order mainly in their indefinite seeds, small quantity of albumen, and constant ten- 

 dency to produce a superior ovary. Henslovia agrees with them still further ; the 

 flowers are polygamous, the seeds are winged, which is also the case in Hydrangea 

 cordifolia and others ; and the albumen is whoUy deficient. The chief distinction 

 consists in the complete adhesion of the styles into one undivided cylinder ; but 

 among Hydrangeads we have the same peculiarity in Schizophragma and Brous- 

 saisia. On that account, however, Henslovia maybe regarded as a relation of Brexia, Fig.CCCLXXXV. 

 but its decidedly opposite leaves are unfavourable to the union of the two in the same 



Order. Henslovia consists of 3 or 4 species of trees inhabiting the tropical parts of 



India. Only Genus. Henslovia, Wall, 



Fig. CCCLXXXV.— Henslovia. 1. its seed ; 2. its embryo. 



