326 DESCRIPTION OF SOME NEW PLANTS 
This, as a genus, will range along with Gelsemium of Jussieu, a native 
of North America, from which it is principally distinguished by its im- 
bricated, not quincuncial, æstivation of the corolla, inflated capsule, 
and numerous peltate, compressed seeds, surrounded on all sides by a 
the same habit, Gelsemium being said to be scandent, while the present 
plant is certainly a twiner. The leaves of the former are stated by 
Alphonse De Candolle to be ** pellucido-punctata,” which is not the case 
in Medicia. 1 regret that none of the seeds on my specimens are in a 
forward enough state to enable me to ascertain the nature of the embryo. 
Until Alphonse De Candolle determined the proper position of Gel- 
semiwm in the system, it was considered at one time to belong to 
Apocynacee, and at another to Bignoniacee. From the latter it is 
separated by the presence of albumen, and from the former by the 
nature of the stigma. In the structure of the capsule, it as well as 
Medicia are intimately connected with Usteria and Antonia, the mode 
of dehiscence being exactly the same. They also agree in the position 
and structure of their seeds, but differ in the mode of placentation ; ; 
sepiment, which in both cases is formed by the inflexed margins of the 
carpels. At one time I was inclined to unite these four genera into a 
single tribe, characterized by the dehiscence of the capsule ; but a more 
natural plan will be to allow Gelsemiee to remain, being well distin- 
guished by the imbricated zestivation of the corolla and marginal pla- 
centation ; while Usteriee and Antoniee should be combined under the 
latter name, and the principal character taken from the valvate æsti- 
vation of the corolla and the fleshy detached placent. 
Among a large collection of Malacca plants which I received from the 
late Mr. Griffith shortly before he died, I find a remarkable new genus 
very nearly related to Antonia, in which, though the fruit and seed 
are almost the same as in the latter genus, the radicle is superior, not 
inferior.* 
* The following is a description of this genus :— 
Nornisia, Garda. 
Cmar. GEN. Calyx 5-partitus, basi bibracteatus, sepalis parvis ovatis obtusis im- 
bricatis persistentibus. Corolla hypocrateriformis, fauce hirsutà : tubo extus 
