90 ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 
of Carpodontos, a genus which, with the foliage of the latter order, has the fruit of the former ; 
also of certain plants of Hypericacee, which, according to Cambessedes, have a definite 
number of seeds, With Marcgraaviacee they agree through Norantea, which has the stamens 
slightly adherent to the base of the petals, and fixed anthers; but that order-is entirely different 
in habit, and is well marked by its singular cucullate bracts, its fruit, and its wingless exalbu- 
minous seeds. Many genera of Ternstrémiacew, such as Kielmeyera and others, have the 
habit of Tiliacezw, while the fruit of Laplacee is strikingly like that of Luhea; but the estiva- 
tion of the calyx and many other characters distinguish them.” 
GeocrapuicaL Distripution. The species of this order are for the most part tropical 
plants, some however, nearly confining themselves to the more elevated and cooler regions, 
The Gordonias and Cleyeras of the Peninsula and Ceylon are with one exception, so far we yet 
know, from the highest hills, that one is from Courtallum. The Neilgherries, the Pulney moun- 
tains, the elevated regions of Nuera Ellia in Ceylon, all produce species of one or both of these 
genera, while the on the lower hills [ have only once seen or heard of either. Eurya and Cochlos- 
permum on the other hand, both descend to the plains. Ternstremia is found at Courtallum in 
the shady jungles covering its hills. Camellia has not yet, so far as I have heard, been found 
either in the Peninsula or in Ceylon. 
Of the whole order 40 species are enumerated as Indian in Dr. Wallich’s list of Indian 
plants, whether all these will stand the test of further and more miuute examination than, in 
the circumstances under which that list was prepared it was possible to give, appears 
doubtful, but whether or not, it seems certain that the amount of Indian species brought to 
light of late years is very considerable, since, at the date of the publication of the first volume of 
DeCandolle’s Prodromus (1824) of sixty-two species known, for the whole world, only 19 
were of Asiatic origin, nearly all the rest were from the West Indies and continent of America. 
Dr. Lindley states ‘‘ that between 60 and 70, all beautiful trees or shrubs are found in South 
America, while a few only are known from the northern division of that continent.” 
The geographical distribution of the order in India, both generally and individually, as regards 
particular genera and species, has recently attracted much attention with reference to the ex- 
tension of the cultivation of the tea plant, it having hitherto been supposed, that it would not 
thrive, at least to such a degree as to render its culture an object of commercial importance, 
beyond the limits of those districts in China whence the produce has been so long and so largely 
expo: 
species of the order are mentioned by Ainslie, in his Materia Medica, whence it would appear, 
they are but little it at all known to the native practitioners of India. 
