Oe OO a eee ae ee eee ee ee a ee ae ee ee 
Cee eo. eee 
PLaTE 1961. 
DAVIDIA INVOLUCRATA, Buill. 
Cornaces. Tribe, Nrssez. 
D. involucrata, H. Baill. Adansonia, x. 115, spec. fructiferum ; 
frnctu drupaceo obovoideo v. ellipsoideo branneo y. rubiginoso 
lxviusculo lenticellato-punctato apice depressiusculo, mesocarpio 
granuloso-crustaceo, endocarpio osseo longitudinaliter 15-25-sulcato 
seepius 3—5-spermo, seminibus solitariis pendulis albuminosis, albumine 
carnoso, embryone albumine subeequali recto, cotyledonibus oblongis 
radicula paullo longioribus. 
4B. Tibet, Prov. Moupine, David; China, Prov. Szechwan ; 
District of South Wushan, Dr. Henry (No. 5577; a solitary tree seen 
; a 
during a six months’ excursion). 
brown apparently resinous matrix. The sulcation of the thick bony 
endocarp, in which usually all but three or four of the cells are 
aborted, recalls the similar condition in some species of Nyssa. 
the conspicuous areolation of the receptacle of the inflorescence 
after the fall of the stamens and the circular disposition of the 
Staminal cicatrices upon each areole, I cannot but think the inflores- 
cence is a capitulum of closely crowded achlamydeous male flowers 
with one obliquely lateral female one. Davidia is mentioned byl Abbé 
David in the sketch of his travels prefixed to M. Franchet s ‘ Plante 
Davidiane,’ pt. i. p. 9, under the specific name of tibetana. 
Davidia is a tree almost deserving a special mission to Western 
China with a view to its introduction to European gardens. ‘ Henry 
describes it as 30 feet. in height; ‘the large white bracts, mingled 
with the green leaves of the tree, give it an extraordinary and beautiful 
appearance.’—D. OnivER. 
Fig. 1. Apex of peduncle after fall of the staminate flowers. 2. Transverse section 
of fruit. 3. Embryo. 1 and 3 enlarged. 
VOL. X. PART III. 7 
