T11K ILUSTRAT10N HORTUOl.K. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



NEW CALEDONIAN EL^OCARPI 



New Caledonia is incontestably one of the isolated spots of 



the globe, still 



main- valuaUe addith 

 of dried plants, formec 

 Vieillanl, Pancher ai 

 plorers of this Island, ( 



little explored. 



which might afford 

 aniens. The rich collections 

 last fifteen years, by Messrs. 

 , the principal French ex- 

 a rds of 2000 species. Certain 

 genera and groups of species are endemic or peculiar to this 

 country, few of them occurring on the mainland of Aus- 

 tralia, the nearest land of great extent. The Flora has greater 

 affinity with the vegetation of the Malayan Islands, and the 

 future will probably prove the hypothesis which one might, 

 from this circumstance, advance with regard to New-Guinea. 

 Some forms, although new as species or genera, have closely 

 allied representatives in very distant parts of the world. 

 Thus, to confine ourselves to one or two examples, it is rather 

 remarkable to find a monotypic genus, Cunonia capensis 

 Thunb., of which no congener had previously been discovered, 

 suddenly enriched by five new species, all New Caledonian. 

 Another interesting type, the genus Elaeocarpus, does not 

 offer the same anomaly, because it is widely dispersed in 

 India, the neighbouring islands, Australia, and the islands of 

 South Africa; but all the New Caledonian species are distinct. 

 A genus, Crinodendron, of a single species, native of Chili, 

 that scarcely differs generically from Elaeocarpus, having a 

 capsular instead of a drupaceous fruit, furnishes an ana- 

 logous instance of isolation to that of the single species 

 of Cunonia at the Cape of Good Hope. * 



The number of published species of Elaeocarpus is consi- 

 derable, exceeding 70. By adding 15 species, subsequently 

 published by Messrs. Brongniart and Gris and 5 or 6 forms 

 still inedited, we have very nearly a hundred species. But 

 the number of New Caledonian species is proportionately 

 very large, since, independently of the new recruits which 

 we may reasonably assume to exist in the unexplored parts of 

 this Australian Colony, she claims a fourth of the known 

 species of this beautiful genus of Tiliaceae. 



In general, these plants possess little interest from an 

 ornamental point of view, hence they are rarely seen in 

 cultivation. They are trees of diverse habit, for the greater 

 part with elegant foliage; but their small, racemose flowers 

 are not particularly striking and attract only the botanist. 

 Nevertheless, a section of this genus (Monocera) which is scar- 

 cely admitted now, is comprised chiefly of trees remarkable 

 for the amplitude and sometimes for the silvery tint of their 

 foliage, as well as the brilliancy of their flowers. The Flora 

 Vitiensis of the energetic and lamented Seemann, a distin- 

 guished botanical traveller, contains a figure of one species 

 of this group 2 , which gives an idea of the beauty of these 



fa by Messrs. Hooker and 

 it had been incorrectly described, the 

 calyx, which splits and falls away early, having been overlooked, the 

 petals described as sepals, and the fleshy lobes of the disk as petals. 

 TWciwpfcterfo is distinguished 1,\ its truncate calyx, regularly 2 lobed 

 or toothed petals and dehiscent, capsular seed-vessel. W. B. H. 

 2 Flora vitiensis, fasc. I. 



silky peta 

 Ltl>!\ luin 

 the colour 



new genus \i)vi», ><:,■!,,<, <>i the /-./,/, ,,<■,, rjM ;n , - A \ u . r \ Uiy \ nil 

 treated of the type of this suborder, especially as this genus 

 is almost inseparable from it. and in its botanical characters 



similar. The peculiarity is in the development of the tissue 

 answering to the chala/.a of seeds, which is such, that each 

 seed, when mature, is provided with a variously twisted 

 vermicular appendage. Dubunzetia campamdata of Pancher 3 , 

 is a shrub from 3 to 6 feet high, with alternate, narrow, cu- 

 neate leaves, tomentose below. As in the Elaeocarpus before 

 mentioned, they are clustered at the top of the branches, and 

 from their midst rise the peduncles, each bearing a solitary 

 flower, of the size of Anemone Pulsatilla. The calyx consists 

 of a divisions, inclosing 5 entire petals, considerably longer 

 than the sepals and of a beautiful red colour, which is re- 

 tained by the dried specimens. The numerous stamens (35 to 

 40) have long, yellow anthers, opening at the tip, as in 

 Elaeocarpus. 



This magnificent plant was sent to the Museum herbarium 

 by M. Pancher in I860, under the name which has been 

 adopted for it. It is indisputably the most striking member 

 of the group Elaeocarpeae, and its culture would probably be 

 no more difficult than for the species of Elaeocarpus itself. 

 Two other species of Dubouzetia have been described, but 

 they are far from equalling their congener in elegance and in 

 the size of their flowers. M. Pancher dedicated this superb 

 plant to rear-admiral huhou/et. then governor of New-Cale- 

 donia. 



J. Poisson. 



