﻿392 ON THE BOTANY OF JAPAN. 



therefore has a continuous range from Newfoundland and Labrador to Japan. As to 

 representati^'es, Cornus officinalis of Japan is verj- like C. sessilis, Torr., of California, 

 on the one hand, and C. mas, of the Old World, on the other. C. sa}iguinea, extend- 

 ing from Europe to Japan, is represented by C. Californica, &c. in "Western America, 

 and by C. sericea east of the Rocky Mountains ; and C. alba of Siberia and Japan may 

 prove hardly distinct from our C. stolonifera. Even Benthamia fragifera of the Hima- 

 layas and B. Jajmnica of Japan cannot be generically different from our Cornus 

 fiorida and its western form, C Nuttallii of Audubon. 



The CaprifoUacea of Japan are interesting under the same point of view. Ahelia 

 is peculiar to Japan, China, and the Himalayas. DierviUa (including Weigela) is divided 

 between Japan (and the adjacent mainland) and Eastern North America. I was dis- 

 posed to regard Weigela as a distinct genus, on account of the ampliate corolla, the 

 deciduous limb of the calyx, the coriaceous capsule, and the reticulate-winged seeds. 

 The last three distinctions were probably unknown to Mr. Brown when he united 

 Weigela to DierviUa, as they certainly were to Alph. De Candolle when he again sepa- 

 rated them, and referred Bunge's Calysphyrum to Weigela. Confidently reducing an- 

 other genus of the Russian botanists, viz. the Calyptrostigma Middendorffiaimm of Traut- 

 vetter and Meyer's Florula Ochotensis, I must at the same time admit that INIr. Brown's 

 sagacity was not at fault. I have not seen Bunge's Calysphyrum ; but fruiting speci- 

 mens of the Okotsk species, DierviUa ( Weigela) Middendorffiana, were brought by Mr. 

 Wright's assistant from Ayan. These, in this state, much resemble DierviUa sessilifolia 

 of the Alleghany Mountains, and have an equally thin capsule, upon which the limb 

 of the calyx is about equally persistent ; that is, it persists until the fruit matures, 

 and is then apt to fall off. The unequal union of the calyx-lobes in Middendorff's 

 plant is probably accidental, and has been noticed by De Candolle in Bunge's Calysphy- 

 rum ; the stigma is not essentially unlike that of the Japanese species in the bud (cap- 

 shaped, at length becoming broadly peltate) ; and I have some doubt whether the 

 anthers are really connivent after the flower opens, as represented. Finally, the seeds 

 of the American species, although wingless, are invested with a close cellular pellicle, 

 rff a structure similar to that of the wing of the Asiatic species, which, moreover, 

 is occasionally little developed. 



To DierviUa Japonica, I ref^r the D. Corteensis, DC, also D. grandijlora and D. 

 versicolor, Sieb. & Zucc, and the Weigela rosea of the gardens ; and unite the D. hor- 

 tensis, Sieb. & Zucc. to D. jlorihunda. 



Additional specimens of fhe plant named Lonicera Morrowi in Peri7's Expedition 

 call for some alteration in the character ; the species is nearly related to L. Xylosteum 

 of Europe, &c. De Candolle's L. hrachypoda is probably L. ccerulea. 



