353 



Original %ttitk^. 



FURTHER NOTES OX EBENACE^; WITH DESCRIPTION 

 OF A NEW SPECIES. 

 By W. p. Hieex, M.A. 

 (Tab. 172.) 



Since the appearance in the Journal of Botany for August, 1874, 

 of the first notes, as additional to my Monograph of Elenacece, another 

 period of sixteen months has elapsed, and again a few particulars call 

 for arrangement and publication, in order to allow pace to be kept 

 with the accumulation of miscellaneous material and scattered infor- 

 mation, which occasionally crop up and serve gradually to extend our 

 knowledge of these plants. 



In Moreton Bay, Queensland, the singular discovery has been 

 made of the occurrence of the south-east African climbing shrub 

 Royena villosa, L., growing apparently spontaneous by the Brisbane 

 river, near the city of Brisbane. 1 am indebted to Baron von Mueller 

 for a specimen, which was gathered by Mr. Walter Hill. Having 

 regard to the great distance and wide divergence between the floras of 

 Australia and the Cape of Good Hope, and to the fact that many 

 species of foreign trees and shrubs have been imported into Australia, 

 it must be suspected that this is not an outlying station of the true 

 geographical range of the plant, but rather due to introduction. The 

 flowers have a sweet fragrance and the plant is not unlikely to be 

 cultivated. 



It appears from Mr. J. C. Melliss' recent book on St. Helena (1875) 

 that the South African bush Roxjena pallem^ Thunb., grows wild, and 

 is common in hedges along roadsides on high land in that island, where 

 it attains a height of 15 to 20 feet, and is called by the colonists 

 *' Poison Peach." It is an introduction from South Africa, in some 

 parts of which it is, according to the late Dr. Harvey, the " Monkey- 

 Plum " of the colonists. 



A new species from the island of Rodriguez here follows : — 



DiosPYKOS DivERsiFOLi.v, Hiem. — D. mox glabrescens, foliis alternis 

 ellipticis apice rotundatis basi obtusis cuneatisve discoloribus lucidis 

 breviter petiolatis eleganter reticulatis margine recurvis, ramulorum 

 sterilium infernorum minoribus multo angustioribus lineari-oblongis, 

 fructibus solitariis sessilibus globosis vel ellipsoideis glabris calyce ap- 

 presso ad apicem 5-6- vel irregulariter- lobulo breviter cupulari suffultis, 

 seminum albumine non ruminato. 



Habitat in clivis insula? Mascarensis "Rodriguez," ubi lecta olim 

 a cl. Bouton ! et nuper a Dre. I. B. Balfour ! n. 1024, etiam a Mrs. M. 

 de C. Moon depicta. 



Arbor inter minores 15-16-pedalis ramosissiina. Ramuli cinerei 

 x.s. VOL. 4. [Dkcemt!er, 1875.] 2 a 



