150 SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF TKOCHODENDRE^. 
root a very agreeable tonic infusion is made. It is likewise used for 
cleaning the teeth. The plant is not wild but cultivated with us. 
■ 
Carta de la India {J)leffenhacliia Segiiine, Schott). A decoction 
made from the stem, thickened with gum-arabicjis taken twice a day in 
gonorrhoea, sometimes with a decoction of the roots of Solanum liir- 
tum^ Yahl (which is called " Huevo de gato"). This is considered as 
an excellent i-emedy for purifying the blood. 
{To he continued,^ 
ON THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OV THE NATUEAL 
- OliDER TROCHOBENDREjE. 
By Dii. A. W. EiciiLER. 
(^From the Ratlahon ' Flora^ Jan. 1865.) 
A few weeks after I sent my paper *' On the Structure of tlie Wood 
of Drimys and TrocJiodendron, and the Systematic Position of the 
latter Genus" to the editor of the 'Flora/ but before the paper was 
printed, (Sept. 17, 1864:,) there appeared in tlie August number of 
the second volume of the ' Journal of Botany, British and Foreign/ 
the first part of Dr. B. Seemann*s "Eevision of the Natural Order 
Kederace(e'^ In this paper that author dwells, amongst other tilings, 
on the systematic i^osition of Trochodendron (p. 237, 8eq.)y a genus 
whicli Bentham and Hooker fil. had referred to AmliacetE. Dr. 
Secmann controverts tlieir view, places Trochodendron once more near 
WiiiteracecE, allies it with Eiiptelia, Sieb. et Zucc, and is inclined 
to regard both genera as " the first known members " of a new Natural 
Order, that of Trocliodendrece, Dr. Seemann has thus partly antici- 
pated me, as, in the paper alluded to, I had also advocated tbe pro- 
priety of "leaving Trochodendron near Winteracece, but separated from 
them, until further discoveries shoidd bring to liglit either connecting 
links or forms which might vindicate the independence of a group 
of plants of equal importance with the last-named {JFinteracecie), 
That both of us should have arrived, independently, at the same 
conclusions is a source of satisfaction io me, and may be regarded 
as a certain proof of their correctness. It was impossible for me to 
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