COLLECTED IN HONG-KONG. 815 
Brown has given the name of Toropetalum, that the valves are deciduous. 
In both tribes the tube of the calyx adheres to the ovary; but in 
each the amount of union is very variable; for while among the genera 
of Hamamelidacee it is complete in Dicoryphe and Tetracrypta, it only 
extends to about a half in Hamamelis, Corylopsis, and Eustigma; and 
in Parrotia and Fothergilla I find it does not extend to a fourth. In 
Bruniacee there is a singular variation in this respect ; for while the 
adherence is perfect in Tiffmannia, in most of the other genera which I 
have had an opportunity of examining, it is only more or less half, and 
in the curious genus Raspailia we see the strange anomaly of a perfectly 
free calyx with epigynous stamens. This, however, is satisfactorily ex- 
plained by Brongniart, in his memoir on the tribe, on the ground of the 
well known law of structure, that however much the parts of the flower 
may be combined, they all take their origin from nearly the same point ; 
and that while in this instance there is no union between the calyx and 
the ovary, such does exist between the latter organ and the stamens and 
petals. In Bruniacee the lobes of the calyx are imbricated in sestiva- 
tion ; while in Hamamelidacee they are either valvate or imbricated. 
All the genera of Bruniacee are petalous, and the estivation is said 
to be imbricated. This I find to be the case in all the species I have 
examined; but Brongniart represents the petals of Linconia alopecuroi- 
dia as being valvate-involute, or exactly as in Hamamelis itself. In 
Hamamelidacee there are six petalous and six apetalous genera, and 
the sestivation is either sub-imbricate or valvate-involute. 
In Bruniacee the stamens are definite, never exceeding five, very 
rarely four, mi the filaments are either filiform or subulate. In Ha- 
mamelidacee they are either definite or indefinite, the genera in which 
epigyna, cuneata, — — ON laciniis 5 filiformibus, estivatione val- 
vato-involuta. Stami cum petalis inserta, alterna iisdem opposita breviora : 
filamenta filiformia, basi eee a anthere introrsæ, dorso insertæ, ovatæ, mu- 
Ile. Ovari 
Styli 4, dis ades A wp sti mata Soo Fructus ignotus. 
m tineti p. i dm im ch this genus is established, Fais first 
br hi t oti Champi sain met with it during his residen 
Galle in be: dn nf mp since Poni i it myself, as well as omis though 
neither of us has been fortunate enoug i obtain ripe fruit. From the entire struc- 
e of its flower I was at first in refer it to Bruniacee, the nature of Be 
tur 
anthers, and the pluriloeular ovary, b x the principal inducements. But as I no 
unite Bruni "iod s Hamamelidacee, as y habit i is Aag that of the latter tribe, 
T believe that it ought to range along with Dicoryphe of Thouars, with gg it 
agrees in having tetramerous flowers, niren filaments, a an 8-ribbed ov 
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