26 PITTOXIA. 



Spirseaceous shrubs, resolved them into hvo genera, of wliicli 

 Epicosforiis, according to tJie date assigned it by Dr. AVatson 

 ill the Index, is earlier by four years than Pliysocarpa. I 

 liave not, however, seen the paper in which Ep'icosiorus is 

 said to have been first published. 



The Ncillia of Don dates from 1825 and is founded on an 

 Asiatic type. I have seen no specimens ; but, from the 

 characters assigued. as well as from the woodcut given by Don 

 ( Gen. Hist, ii., 57 ), I judge the course taken by Bentham 

 and by Baiilon preferable to that of Maximo^ncz, {. e., that our 

 American shrubs are quite easily congeneric with tlieir East 

 Indian allies. They are said to agree in habit. One given 

 to noticing the peculiar shreddy and deciduous brown bark 

 of our Anasrican bushes would be interested in knowing 

 whether the original Neillla exhibits the same characteristic. 

 In tlie Old "World type the fruit is said to be follicular, opening 

 by the inner suture. The American species have carpels 

 either wholly indehiscent or else separating spontaneously 

 when ripe into two distinct valves; the separation taking 

 place first by the outer suture. It is erroneous to call the 

 fruit of any America Neillia, which I have knowled^^e of, a 

 follicle. The inflorescence of the Indian shrubs is define.d as 

 racemose or even thyrsoid, while in the American species it is 

 said to be simply corymbose. But in California and in 

 Colorado one often meets with well elongated, and even some- 

 what compoundly racemose, clusters of flowers on very 

 vigorous shoots. The wood cut in Don, as to the arrangement 

 of the flowers in the type of the genus, can easily be matched 



This 



K 



fact, doubtless unknown to others who have written upon the 

 systematic relations of our group, has its weight ; although 

 there is in truth no radical difference between a corymbose and 

 a racemose inflorescence. The two kinds are equally illus- 

 trated within the limits of many a familiar genus. 



The following recension of the American species and 

 varieties, doubtless far enough from being a complete and 

 satisfactory account of them, should invite our fellow workers 



