380 
The number of stamens, varies from 8 to 9, but is usually 8, and I 
never observed 5 or 10. The gaps in the androecium are always in 
the inner whorl, but their positions are not constant. 
The contorted aestivation adds to the characters which tend to 
exclude Akania from the Sapindaceae as well as from the Staphy- 
leaceae. But if neither Sapindaceae nor Staphyleaceae are available 
to receive Akania, where is it to be placed? No other family has 
been suggested, and yet it is abundantly clear that the affinity lies 
with the Sapindales, Benth. and Hook. f. or Sapindales-Sapindineae, 
Engl., in which subseries it occupies an isolated position, comparable 
to that of the small families of the Hippocastanaceae and Aceraceae, 
although more detached than either. This means, to express the 
condition taxonomically, that Akania represents a distinct family 
in the subseries of the Sapindineae, the appropriate name for which 
would be Akaniaceae and its diagnosis as follows :— 
Akaniaceae, Stanf (fam. nov.); ex affinitate Sapindinearum, a 
caeteris familiis subseriei distincta petalorum aestivatione contorta, 
Petala 5, aequalia, dextrorsum vel sinistrorsum contorta, in 
receptaculi margine inserta. Discus nullus. Stamina fere semper 
8 (raro 9), quorum 5 externa episepala in medio receptaculo, caetera 
vero circa ovarii basin inserta; filamenta elongata, filiformia ; 
antherae oblongae, basifixae, basi breviter bilobae. Ovarium 
integrum, 3-loculare ; stylus simplex, rectus, filiformis ; stigma 
minute 3-lobum. Ovula in quoque loculo 2, superposita, anatropa, 
pendula, raphe adaxiali, micropyle supera, integumentis 2. Fructus 
capsularis, loculicide valvis 3 coriaceo-lignosis dehiscens. Semina 
exarillata, globoso-ovoidea, testa crustacea ; endospermum carnosum, 
amplum, cotyledonibus accumbens. Embryo amplus, rectus ; 
cotyledones transversae, crassae, subplanae ; radicula superior, 
brevissima, recta. 
Arbores. Folia alterna, exstipulata, imparipinnata, coriacea. 
Inflorescentiae paniculatae. 
LUI.—DECADES KEWENSES 
PuantTarum Novarum in Herpario Hortr Reet 
CoNSERVATARUM., 
DECADES LXVII.—LXIX. 
WSL Pe Delphinium Purdomii, Craih { Ranunculaceae-Helleboreae ]; 
a D. trichophora, Franchet, cui affinis, petalorum lateralium lobis 
mm. longis 1 mm. latis recedit. 
Bracteae lanceolatae, acutae, 2°7 cm. longae, 6 mm. latae, supra 
fere glabrae, infra sparse villosae, longe ciliatae, 8 mm. infra apicem 
ente solitario latere utroque instructae ; bracteolae 2, 5 mm. inter 
se distantes, parte superiore pedicelli affixae, oblongo-lanceolatae, 
integrae, 1-4 cm, longae, 4 mm. latae, indumento ut bracteae ; 
