Plate 2300. 



CIRCJEASTER AGRESTIS, 3faxim. 



Genus anomalum affixitatis dubi^. 



C. agrestis, Jfaxi?7iowicz, in MeL BioL xi. 34G : LcrLula caiuiua 



simplex glabraj caule (hypocotyledoiieo) erecto pellucido, cotyledouibus 

 persisteutibus lineari-oblongis uninerviis, foliis 5-7 quasi verticillatis 



cuneato ovatis repaiido-serratis basi in petiolum gracileni siL^pius 

 longiusculum angustatis roembranaceis subtus glaucescentibus, flori- 

 bus minutissimis umLellato-fasciculatis foliis brevioribus pedicellatis, 

 pedicellis tempore florifero brevissimis denique acciescentibus rigidis 

 iructu ssepe 2-3-plo longioribus, fructibus monospermis lineari- v. 

 oblongo-fusiformibus setis uncinatis plus minus obsitis. 



Hab. China : Prov. Kansu, Przetvahki ; Western Himalaya, 

 Kumaon, StracJiey and Winterhottom, Dutliie. 



Caitlis gracilis 1-4 poll, longus, fascicule solitario centrali fibrova- 

 sah percursus. Cotyledones persistentes evolutte 5-6 lin. longse, 1 lin. 

 late. Folia^ cum petiole, ^-1^ poll, longa, exstipulata. Sejxda minu- 

 tissima oblonga v. lanceolata, persistentia. Fetala 0. Stamina 

 hypogyna 2^ (v. 1 altero turn ananthero). Carpella 1-2-4, sivpius 

 solitaria, obliqua ; stigma terminale sessile lanceolatum v. oblongum, 

 papillosum, ^coloratum ; ovulum solitarium, pendulum, ortliotropum, 

 breviter funiculatum. Garyopsis 2 lin, longa : albumen copiosuin ; 

 embryo teres radicula infera. 



This singular plant Avas first gathered by General (then Captain) 

 btrachey, and drawings prepared from his material by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker for publication, together with the specimens, were unfor- 

 tunately lost many years ago. It turned up next in Western China, 

 and was very carefully described by the late C. J. Maximowicz (/.c), 

 ^vho transmitted specimens to Kew in 1881. Since then it has been 

 collected abundantly in Kumaon, at an elevation of 8000-10500 feet, 

 «y Mr. Dutliie, to whom we are indebted for very copious material, 

 and from whose specimens our figure has been taken. With regard to 

 tne affinity of the plant : the pendulous orthotropous ovule and general 

 aspect of the plant suggested the possibility of some relationship to 

 ^nloninthaceae, as intimated by M. Maximowicz, who referred the 

 question to us {U.) ; but I now feel less satisfied with this suggestion, 

 and in spite of its many anomalous features, of which the character of 

 f pendulous orthotropous ovule is one of the more noteworthy, I should 



