CHAP. XXXVII. HOMALINACEX. ARISTOTE‘LIA. 543 
lections are four: Aristotélia Mécqui, and the variety of this with variegated 
leaves; and two species of Azira: both genera are natives of Chili. The 
genus Aristotélia is considered by botanists as only allied to Homalonacee ; 
but we have placed it first in our enumeration, as being both the most con- 
spicuous, and the hardiest plant of the order. 
ArtstorEL14 L’Hérit. Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla of 5 petals, inserted 
into the bottom of the calyx. Stamens 15—18, 3—4 in a fascicle in front 
of each lobe of the calyx. Ovary free. Fruit a globose berry, 3-celled, the 
cells 2-ovuled, 1—2-seeded. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 56.) 
Aza‘ra R. et P. Calyx 4—7-parted. Corolla none. Stamens numerous, in- 
serted into the base of the calyx. Fruit a globose berry, 1-celled, 5-seeded 
from abortion; seed covered with a spongy aril when mature. (Don’s Mill., 
itp. 55.) 
Genus I. 
ARISTOTE’L/A L’Hérit. Tue Arisrorerta. Lin. Syst. Polyadeélphia 
Polyandria. 
Identification. _L’ Herit. Stirp.,p. 31 ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 56.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 58. 
Derivation. Named in commemoratien of Aristotle, the celebrated philosopher and naturalist. 
# 1. A. Ma’ceur L’Hérit. The Macqui Aristotelia. 
Identification. L’Heérit. Stirp., p.31.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 56.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 58. 
Syeueee A. glanduldsa R. e¢ P. Fl. Per. Syst., p.126., Poir. Suppl., 587.; A. Maqui in Dec. Prod., 
Pp. 56. 
Engravings. 1Hérit. Stirp., t. 16.; Lam. Ill, t. 369.; Wats. Dend. Brit., t.44.; N. Du Ham., 
t. 33 ; Otto, t. 88,; E. of Pl, No. 6597.; and the plate of this tree in our Second Volume. 
Variety. ; 
# A.M. 2 foliis variegatis. The variegated-leaved Macqui Aristotelia. 
Description, §c. The species is a shrub with spreading branches and per- 
sistent leaves, which are almost opposite, with obvious petioles, and disks that 
are oblong, acute, more than 2in. long, and about | in. broad, dentately ser- 
rate, glabrous, and of rather a full green colour. There are stipules, but they 
fall off The flowers are small, green, and yellow, disposed in axillary ra- 
cemes: some of the stamens are sterile. It is a native of Chili, where it 
forms an evergreen shrub, with diffuse branches, growing to the height of 
6 ft. The flowers are not very showy ; but, in Chili, they are succeeded by 
berries about the size of a pea, very dark purple, and at length becoming black. 
They are acid, eatable; and the inhabitants make a wine from them, which 
they give in malignant fevers. In British gardens, it forms a sub-evergreen 
shrub or low tree, of very vigorous growth; so much so, in a young state, 
that, from the shoots not being matured, they are frequently killed down to 
the ground, and the foliage more or less injured. Notwithstanding this, the 
aristotelia frequently flowers, and, against a wall, ripens fruit ; and, in all pro- 
bability, if the tree were planted in dry and rather poor soil, so as to grow 
slowly, and not make more wood every year than it could ripen properly, it 
would attain a large size, and form a very handsome hardy evergreen shrub or 
tree. There is a plant of it at Oriel Temple, near Dublin, which, in twenty 
years, has attained the height of 16 ft.; and there are specimens in most botanic 
gardens. There is a large one at Messrs. Loddiges’s, and one in the garden of 
the London Horticultural Society, as a low bush, which, in 1835, flowered 
freely. There is a tree at Syon, 18 ft. high. A standard in our garden 
at Bayswater has stood since 1831, without the slightest protection, and 
flowers freely; it is trained to a single stem, and is 8ft. high; but would 
probably have been twice that height if we had not been obliged to mutilate 
1t for want of room. The plant grows vigorously in any common garden soil. 
PP 
