80 DOMBEYA ANGULATA. 
subulato-lanceolate, scarcely an inch in length ; leaves 2-5 inches long, 
3-4 inches wide, cordate, roundish, palmately 5-, 7-, or 9-nerved, 
irregularly dentate, obscurely 3-lobed at the apex, lobules sharply 
pointed. Peduncles solitary, terminal, 1-2 inches long, bearing a 
fascicle of 8 or 10 slender pedicels, about an inch in length, equalling 
or not exceeding the flowers. Epicalyx of 3 deciduous, oblong-lan- 
ceolate, slightly concave bracts, nearly as long as the oblong, acute, 
concave spreading sepals. Corolla about an inch in diameter, of 5 
obliquely obovate, blunt-pointed, pure white petals, twice the length of 
the sepals. Stamens 20, slightly coherent below, 15 fertile; anthers 
extrorse, 5 barren (staminodes), linear, somewhat club-shaped, flat- 
tened at the points, longer than the fertile stamens ; filaments pink at 
the base. Ovary villose; style filiform, as long as the staminodes, 
surmounted by 5 revolute stigmas. 
Iroin D. tomentosa, Cav., a nearly allied plant, the present species 
differs in its more angular leaves, its more simple inflorescence, and in 
the narrow bracts of the epicalyx. 
The plant here described is similar in habit and general appearance 
to the old Sparmannia Jfricana, and has been an inmate of the 
Royal Gardens for some years, though it has not previously produced 
flowers. 
The dried specimen above referred to was collected in Bourbon ; and 
that island, with Madagascar and the Mauritius, may be looked upon 
as the head-quarters of the genus. A few species, however, are found 
on the continent of Africa. 
The elegance of the trusses of pure white flowers and their agreeable 
perfume can hardly fail to attract the attention of the plant-lover, more 
especially at this dull season ; and hence it is to be hoped that culti- 
vators may be able to overcome the straggling habit that the plant now 
possesses, and to induce it to flow r er at an earlier age, when it would 
become a valuable addition to the list of winter-flowering stove plants. 
The stamens in this plant, as in all the Malvales, may be looked 
upon as compound, while the ordinary stamen corresponds to a simple 
leaf; the groups of stamens in the Mallows and allied Orders may be 
regarded as the equivalents of compound leaves, united together at 
their bases. Some of the lobes or leaflets of these compound leases 
bear anthers, while others are destitute of anthers, and constitute the 
barren stamens or staminodes. Some luHit is thrown on the uses 
