ON THE GENUS VILLARESIA. 265 
Cornacee, M. Baillon observes, that “ the ovary in Cornus mascula is 
not more inferior than that of Codonium (Schépfia) Mexicanum ;” this 
is quite true, but as before remarked of other parallel cases in Olacacea, | 
the fruit of Schöpfia becomes inferior only by the subsequent adhesion 
of the calyx to the enveloping disk on which the stamens and petals 
are seated, and by the downward growth of the ovarium, which at an 
early stage is superior, as in Bursinopetalum and Halesia. Too muc 
importance has probably been attached by botanists to the distinctions 
of an inferior or superior ovary, without regard to the cause. Nume- 
rous facts of this nature show that the condition of the calyx, often 
subject to such extreme morphological changes, is ill caleulated to re- 
main the principal basis of any systematic arrangement of plants, and 
they prove the little value that can be attached to the distinctions of 
Thalamiflore, Disciflore, and Calyciflore as exact primary divisions. 
Another element has also been disregarded, and perplexity created 
by confounding a large epigynous gland with a true disk ; little notice 
has been taken of the part which the gland and the disk exert in the 
progressive stages of growth. 
When describing Villaresia two years ago, I mentioned having found 
a cultivated species with a 2-loeular ovary. This occurs constantly in 
the species here described, where it will be seen that the disk is larger 
than usual, while its development in other species is small. In Agui- 
foliacee and Icacinacee, when the ovary is fertile, the disk is but little 
developed, but when it is sterile, it is more conspicuous; in the species 
under consideration, where the flowers are perfectly hermaphrodite, the 
disk is of considerable size. In both families the flowers are more or 
less polygamous, that is to say, subject to a partial depauperation of 
the stamens or ovary. In Flex, among the ovaries that do not become 
fertilized, we find a distinct style, but when they are quite fertile, the 
stigma becomes almost sessile. I have an undescribed genus from 
Peru (Dapsilantha), in which the flowers are all completely unisexual, 
having 5 very imbricated petals, 5 perfect alternate stamens inserted out- 
side of an unusually large disk, in the middle of which uo rudiment of 
an ovary can be observed; in other respects the flower is quite that of 
an Ilex or Villaresia, with a dichotomously expanded inflorescence, as 
in the following, which forms the ninth species of the genus. 
9. Villaresia dichotoma, n. sp. ; ramulis teretibus, angulato-striatis, 
cortice brunneo longitudinaliter rimoso ; foliis ovatis, utrinque breviter 
