182 Mr. J. Miers on several genera hitherto yluced in Solanaceae. 



rangemcntj but one objection presents itself which renders this 

 conckision somewhat unsatisfactory, and that is the pecuhar habit 

 of the only well-i'ecoguized species, Retzia spicata, which is dif- 

 ferent from that of any Solanaceous or Atropaceous plant. Here 

 the leaves are verticillate in fours, and the Howers are solitary 

 and sessile in each axil, being supported by two bracts similar in 

 size and shape to the lobes of the calyx. The genus Solenostigma 

 of Klotzsch, founded upon one of Zeyher's African plants, and 

 supposed to be identical with Retzia, was placed by that botanist 

 in Stilbacea ; but the name would imply that the stigma is there 

 hollow and tubular, while in Retzia it consists of two small linear 

 divaricate segments ; hence it is probable that Klotzsch^s plant is 

 very different from that of Thunberg. I may here observe how- 

 ever, that this fact does not of itself invalidate their mutual affi- 

 nity, for in the vast genus Solanum we meet with different spe- 

 cies, some with a hollow tubular stigma, and others with bifid 

 linear segments, exactly similar to the stigma of Retzia. The 

 Polemonium campanuloides and P. roelloides of Thunberg have 

 been referred to Retzia by Sprengel, G. Don and Dr. Walpers ; 

 these plants have both alternate leaves, and if really species of 

 that genus, they would tend to remove the doubts above expressed 

 in regard to the ])lace of Retzia in this natural order. Willdenow 

 states (Syst. i. 887) that the two species last alluded to, cannot 

 belong to Polemonium, which has a trifid stigma ; and he adds, 

 that P. campanuloides has a bifid stigma as in Retzia. The Con- 

 volvulus cenotheroides (Linn, fil.) is also said to be another species 

 of this genus. The only facts wanting to confirm its place in the 

 system are the position of its ovules and the structure of its seeds. 

 Dr. Lindley, who has examined its ovarium, has observed that 

 its ovules are very few, two (or four ?) in each cell, articulated 

 with and suspended from the dissepiment by a large thickened 

 funiculus, a character not at all conformable with the Atropacece 

 or Solanacets, and one that would seem to remove this genus 

 nearer to the Bruniacece, with which Retzia will be found to pos- 

 sess many similar chai'acters. For the present therefore we must 

 hesitate in attaching Retzia to the Atropacece. 



The genus Lonchostoma of Wikstrom, placed by most botanists 

 in Retziacece, offers, I find, many characters in common with Bru- 

 niacea : its sepals are united at the base by a membranaceous tube 

 which closely invests the ovarium, if not almost adnate with it ; 

 they are surrounded by bracts of equal size : it resembles Graven- 

 horstia in having its petals combined into a funnel-shaped tube 

 with a 5-partite border, the lobes of which are carinate and con- 

 volutely imbricate in aestivation ; the anthers, cordate at base, are 

 nearly sessile in the mouth ; the style is divided halfway down and 

 terminated by clavate stigmata ; the ovarium, 2-celled, appears 



