386 New Gtenus of Plants of the order Santalacee. 
istence of salt radicals. I shall not however prolong the discus- 
sion, and render it more abstruse and unpalatable, by entering 
upon these mysteries. I have said enough to prove that the new 
doctrine is founded in misapprehension and false reasoning ; and 
should there be some difficulties agreeably to the old doctrine, it 
is pretty evident that the salt radical theory will not enable us to 
get out of them. 
ee ; 
Art. VI.—Notice of a new genus of Plants, of the order San- 
talacee ; by Asa Gray. 
- (Read before the Boston Natural History Society, March 18th, 1846.) 
Tue incomplete characters of the plant which is the subject of 
the present communication, are now published mainly in the 
hope, that by directing the attention of local botanists towards 
it, the information which is still needed may be the sooner ob- 
_~ My earliest knowledge of the plant in question, was derived 
from some specimens in the herbarium of the late Zaccheus Col- 
lins, Esq., now belonging to that zealous botanist, Mr. Ehias 
Durand. The specimens were ticketed, “ Milledgeville, Georgia, 
from Dr. Boykin.” If they were communicated to Mr. Collins 
himself, as appears to have been the case, Dr. Boykin was, 0 
far as I can learn, the discoverer of the plant, though perhaps not 
aware of its interest, since it has not again occurred in the collec- 
tions of the plants of Georgia, which he has so liberally distrib- 
uted among northern botanists. It was in the spring of the year 
1842 that these specimens fell under my observation, through 
the favor of Mr. Durand, who obligingly fwnished me with @ 
portion of them. They are leafy branches of a shrub, with 
staminate flowers only. 
My next information was received from my friend and corres- - 
pondent, the Rev. M. A. Curtis, of North Carolina, who, in the 
summer of 1839, near Lincolnton in that State, noticed a shrub 
quite new to him, but destitute of any vestiges either of flowers 
or fruit. Having seen a leafy specimen, I have no doubt of its 
identity with the plant above mentioned. Mr. Curtis revisited 
the locality last summer for the special purpose of ascertaining 
what this unknown shrub could be. He was disappointed, how- 
DS Ting Pon ae A are a RE a aa 
