16 



III. Descriptions of some unpublished Species of Plants from 

 North-western India. By M. Pakenham Edgeworth, Esq., F.L.S., 

 Bengal Civil Service. 



During a residence of several years in the north-west provinces of 

 Bengal, Mr. Edgeworth collected with his own hands about 2000 

 species of plants. Of these the Acanthacese were sent to Professor 

 Nees von Esenbeck; the Gramineae to Messrs. Ruprecht and K. von 

 Meyer; the Carices to Dr. Boott; and with these exceptions, and 

 that of the Corolliflora from Bignoniaceae onwards, which were for- 

 warded to De Candolle, the remainder of the collection was placed 

 in the hands of Mr. G. Bentham. One hundred and forty -four spe- 

 cies are described in the present paper, including some remarkable 

 forms, " as, for example, a Clematis with bearded filaments and in- 

 trorse anthers; an Inula with white flowers and the habit of an Aster; 

 and a Commelyneous plant with a twining stem :" this is figured un- 

 der the name of Streptolirion volubile, and is a very curious and 

 beautiful species. Others of Mr. Edgeworth's new plants are remark- 

 able as being Indian species of genera hitherto looked upon as ex- 

 clusively American. 



The following remarks, relating to a naturalized British genus, are 

 interesting, and may be quoted entire. 



"I have ventured to propose a modification of the character of Im- 

 patiens, because I consider M. Kunth's theory of the flower to be not 

 entirely correct. He conceives the superior petal to be wanting, and 

 the two superior sepals to be united into the vexillum, regarding the 

 keel usually more or less present on that to be a mark of the junction. 

 But I have found the two superior sepals actually present in some 

 species ; they are distinct in I. amplexicaulis and moschata, herein 

 described, and even more so, though still very minute, in the Cash- 

 mir species introduced into England by Dr. Royle under the name 

 of I. glanduligera, and figured by him in his ' Illustrations of Hima- 

 layan Botany.' In other species, a rudimentary scale, or in others, 

 again, a gland, supplies their place ; while in many I have been to- 

 tally unable to detect any. I think, therefore, that I am justified in 

 considering the vexillum as a single petal, and not as composed of 

 two sepals united. I have since found that a similar view has been 

 taken by M. Rceper, in the 'Linnaea,' ix. 121."— p. 37. 



The generic character of Impatiens, as* proposed by Mr. Edgeworth, 

 now stands as follows : — Sepals 5 ; the two upper ones small, some- 

 times wanting ; two lateral simple ; the lower one larger, more or 

 less inflated and spurred. Petals 5; upper one between the two 



