Mr. J. Miers on the Tricuspidariez. 41 
The Tricuspidariee may be divided into two sections: the 
first, having a baccate fruit, mostly indehiscent, comprises the 
genera Aristotelia, Friesia, and Vallea; the second, with a 
capsular fruit, consists of T’ricuspidaria and Crinodendron,— 
in all, five genera. Having studied their structure with much 
care, I proceed to describe each genus separately. 
1. ARISTOTELIA. 
This genus, established by L’Héritier upon the well known 
Maqui of Chile, was referred by the late Mr. Brown and De 
Candolle to the Homalinee ; by Endlicher it was made into a 
suborder attached to Ternstremiacee ; Von Martius also made 
it a suborder (Maquine), which he placed near Pittosporee ; 
Lindley considered this suborder allied to Philadelphiacee ; 
Reichenbach placed it in Hscalloniee ; but Don was the first 
who rightly imdicated its affinity with the Hlwocarpee, to 
which alliance it unquestionably belongs. The genus for 
many years was confined to its single typical species; but 
Dr. Hooker, in his ‘ Flora Zelandica,’ associated with it the 
genus Hriesia. ‘There are so many points of structure in the 
Chilean plant at variance with the several species of Lriesia, 
that it appears to me this genus cannot remain amalgamated 
with Aristotelia, for the following reasons. 
In Aristotelia the petiole is always 2-glandular at its apex ; 
and. the teeth of the leaves have each a glandular termination. 
In Friesta no indication of any gland is seen either on the 
leaves or petioles. 
In Aristotelia the flowers are usually 5-merous, with a 3- 
celled ovary, and always hermaphrodite or else polygamous, 
with only a partial depauperation of the male or female organs. 
In Friesia the flowers are 4-merous, with a 4-celled ovary ; 
and they are described as being dicecious in most instances. 
In Aristotelia the petals are not divided at the apex, being 
only slightly emarginated or truncated; and the absence of 
this feature led botanists to believe, for a long time, that it 
could not belong to Elwocarpee ; they are white, with a slightly 
yellowish tinge. In Fiesta, on the other hand, they are more 
or less deeply 3-lobed at the apex, as in other Tricuspidariee, 
and are generally marked with a deep purple colour. 
In Aristotelia there is a large, deep, cup-shaped disk fixed 
on the thickened apex of the pedicel or torus, to which the 
sepals are agglutinated by a broad line of attachment. In 
Friesia there is no circular disk; but in lieu of this we see 
four small free fleshy glands emanating from the narrow torus 
and placed opposite to the sepals. 
In Aristotelia the stamens are inserted upon the pentagonal 
