NOTE ON THE GENUS PYGEUM. 87 



Mr. Harbord Lewis sent a plant several years since from Allerton 

 Koad, near LiveriDool, which I doubtfully named R. imhricatus ; I 

 now believe that it is really one of the CoryUfolii. 



( To he contmued.j 



NOTE ON THE GENUS PYGEUM, Gaertn. 



By H. F. Hance, Ph.D., &c. 



When describing, seven years ago, a supposed new species of 

 Pygeum,'^^ I failed to perceive its identity, — of which there can be 

 no doubt, — with Priinus macropliylla, S. & Z., although I pos- 

 sessed a good flowering specimen of the Japanese plant. This and 

 P. spinulosa, S. & Z., seem to me just as much allied to Pygeiim as 

 to Priinns, particularly by their thin cartilaginous putamen, though 

 they have not the "di'upa transversim latior, in medio utrinque 

 leniter compressa "f of the typical species, which suggested to 

 Gaerfcner his somewhat unpoetical name. They technically belong 

 to the section Laurocerasus, which, although combined with Pcubis 

 by DeCandolle, Koch, and many other writers, is, when properly 

 limited, a truly natm'al group, as long ago well insisted on by 

 Torrey and Gray.| I do not hesitate to express a decided con- 

 \uction that Pygewn must be merged in this, which differs from all 

 other sections of Prunus by its coriaceous evergreen foliage, 

 frequently almost a quite juiceless fruit, § and thin putamen. || 

 The remodelled group can either be retained in Primus, or, I think 

 l^referably, and more naturally, — taking into consideration that 

 " est propria quaedam Lauroceraso facies,"1T — be distinguished 

 generically, under Tournefort's original name. A comparison of 

 two such plants as Pygeinn acuminatwii, Colebr. and Primus 

 acuminata, Wall., will, I think, show the justice of my opinion. 

 Mr. Kurz has recently established, under the name of Pygeopsis, a 

 section of Prunus, distinguished only by the character "Evergreen 

 trees ; flowers racemose ;" and he remarks : — " The genus Pygeum 

 is so closely allied to the section Pygeopsis of Prunus as to make it 

 difficult to keep it distinct. Indeed, Pygeopsis and Prunus com- 

 bined stand pretty much in the same relation to Prunus as 

 Eriohotrya does to Pirus.'"^'-''' This section appears altogether 



* Seem. 'Journ. Bot.,' viii., 243; where see my remarks on its extreme 

 afl&nity to Prunus. 



+ Gaertner, ' De fruct. et sem. Plant.,' i., 218. 



+ ' Fl. N. America,' i., 411. 



§ In some species rather an achcenium in its character than a drupe. 



II Certainly in P. macropliylla, S. & Z. ; P. javanica, Miq. ; P. spinulosa, 

 S. & Z. J and P. Junghiihniana, Miq. 



^ Tournefort, ' Inst, rei herb.,' ed. 3, curante Jussiaeo, i., 628. 



** ' Journ. As. Soc. Bengal,' xiv., 303. Eriobotrya=iPhotinia,Bth> & Hook.,f. 



