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ON THE GENUS FALLOPIA, Lour. 

 By H. F. Hance, Ph.D. 



In his ' Flora Cochinchinensis,' published at Lisbon in 1790, Loureiro 

 described, under the name of FaUopia nervosa, a small tree which he 

 referred to the Linngean class and Order Polyandria Monogynia, with the 

 following generic character: — " Calyx communis 12-phyllus, foliolis lan- 

 ceolato-linearibus deciduis, continens 3 flosculos. Perianthium proprium 

 nullum. Petala 5, ovata, subpatentia, calyce longiora. Nectariuin foliolis 

 5, ovato-oblongis, parvulis, erectis, sequalibus. Starainum filamenta 50 

 circiter, filiformia, iufequalia, receptaculo inhserentia ; antherse subrotundse. 

 Germen subrotundum, siiperum ; stylus crassus, subulatus, brevior slami- 

 nibus ; stigma simplex. . Bacca subrotuuda, 1-locularis, 4-sperma. Se- 

 mina subrotunda." He states it to inhabit waste places around Canton, 

 and to be about eight feet high, with spreading branches, a tenacious 

 hemp-like bark, ovate-lanceolate nerved subserrate smooth leaves, and 

 white flowers in small terminal clusters. 



Willdenow, who republished the work at Berlin three years later, added 

 notes, with a view to correct the faulty determinations of Loureiro, and to 

 reduce to their proper places as synonyms the many genera erroneously 

 described by him as new. Since, however, he passes over FaUopia with- 

 out any observation (i. 109), it is evident he could make nothing of it. 

 Nor do subsequent botanists appear to have been more successful. I 

 have searched for it in vain in De Candolle's ' Prodromus,' Bartling's 

 ' Ordines,' Eeichenbach's ' Conspectus ' and ' Repertorium Herbarii,' 

 Perleb's ' Clavis,' Endlicher's ' Genera ' and ' Enchiridion,' Lindley's 

 * Natural System ' and ' Vegetable Kingdom,' Meissner's ' Genera,' 

 Dietrich's ' Synopsis Plantarum,' and Bentham and Hooker's ' Genera ; ' 

 and I believe I am correct in saying that it has escaped the notice of all 

 modern systeraatists, and so to say, slipped out of memory, being found 

 neither as a received genus, a synonym, or even relegated to the limbo of 

 " plantae incertse sedis," in any classification of the vegetable kingdom. 

 The only reference to it with which I am acquainted is in the ' Cliinese 

 Chrestomathy ' of the late Rev. Dr. Bridgman, published at Macao in 

 1841, where it is mentioned (p. 458) as growing wild on the islands near 

 Macao ; and it is added that the leaves are gathered by the Chinese as a 

 substitute for tea. 



I had long been greatly perplexed as to the shrub intended, and had 

 for several years made from time to time fruitless efforts to discover it ; 

 and it is only quite recently that inquiries instituted by friends amongst 

 the Canton herbalists have resulted in Grewia Mlcrocos, L., being pro- 

 duced as the plant known by the Chinese name given by Loureiro. The 

 characters assigned to FaUopia, through a misconception of the floral 

 structure, by Loureiro, would have scarcely led one to suspect this to be 

 the plant intended by him, but I have no doubt such is the case ; and, 

 when these characters are properly interpreted, they will be found to 

 agree very well. Thus, the 'calyx communis' is the involucre, the 

 number of whose component bracts is not mentioned by De CandoUe, 

 Koxburgh, Wight and Ariiott or IMiquel, but stated by Dietrich (Synops. 

 Plant, iv. 238) to be 7, and by Bentham (Fl. Hongk. 42) to be 3 to 6, 

 but which I find 8 to 10, and some of these not unfrequently laciniate or 



