THE 



JOURXAL OF BOTANY 



BRITISH AND FOREiaX. -^^,^t 



THE OENUS AMARALIA. ^^^^ 



Br H. F. Werxha].!, D.Sc, F.L.S. 



This Bubiaceous genus was first published by Bentliam and 

 Hoolcer in their Genera Flantarum, ii. 90 (1873). The^^ adopted 

 the name from Welwitsch's MS. on no. 2571 o£ his Angola (Grolungo 

 Alto) collection; this plant appears in Welwitsch's Apont. (1858) 

 585 as Gardenia higiionicsjiora Welvv. Hiern (Fl. Trop. Afr. iii. 112) 

 identifies the same plant with Gardenia Sherhournice Hook. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 40I;4 (1844), which originated from Sierra Leone. Don, in 

 Loud. Encjc. PL 2nd Add. Supp. 1322 (1855), raises the latter 

 to separate generic rank as Sherbournia foliosa ; but he gives no 

 acceptable generic description. 



M, Hua, in an excellent paper on " Le Genre ^lierhournia Don " 

 (Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun, xiv. (1901) 385), has adopted the name 

 without question ; but wrongl}^ it seems, to judge by the customary 

 conv^entions governing plant-descriptions, for the first legitimate 

 description of Sherhournia as a genus is that of M. Hua himself. 

 The Sierra Leone and the Angola plants just referred to are certainly 

 not conspecific, as we shall see, but they are undoubtedly congeneric ; 

 so that if they are to be accorded generic rank separately from Randia 

 and Gardenia, with which they have been confused to a considerable 

 extent (see synonymy infra), Amaralia Ls the proper name for the 

 genus. 



In the 'Flora of Tropical Africa, iii. (1877) Hiern rightly adopts 

 the name Amaralia; but in his Cat. Welw. Afr. PL (1898) the same 

 author reverts to the name Sherhournia^ which must be regarded as 

 a nomen nudum. 



After a careful examination of all the material of Randia and 

 Gardenia available in the princiiml British herbaria, as well as a 

 perusal of the descriptions of species unrepresented therein, I have no 

 hesitation in supporting the claim of Amaralia to separate genei-ic 

 rank, if only on the strength of the calyx-character ; the calyx-lobes 

 being large, foliaceous, and dextrorsely contorted in aestivation. The 

 corolla, too, has distinctive features, being broadly and relatively 

 rather shortly campanulate, with somewhat dense silky indumentum. 



JOFEXAL OF BOTAXY. VOL. Ti'^i. [JaXUARY, 1917.] B 



