CHAP. XXXVII. homalina'ce^. ahistote^lia. 54S 



lections are four : Aristotel/a Macqui, and the variety of this with variegated 

 leaves ; and two species of Azkra : both genera are natives of Chili. The 

 genus Aristoteha is considered by botanists as only allied to Homalonaceae ; 

 but we have placed it first in our enumeration, as being both the most con- 

 spicuous, and the hardiest plant of the order. 



Aristote^l/^ L'Herit. Calyx deeply 5-cIeft. Corolla of 5 petals, inserted 

 into the bottom of the calyx. Stamens 15 — 18,3 — i' in a fascicle in front 

 of each lobe of the calyx. Ovai*y free. Fruit a globose berry, 3-celled, the 

 cells 2-ovuled, 1 — 2-seeded. (Der. Prorf., ii. p. 56.) 



AzA^R.-i R. et P. Calyx 4— 7-parted. Corolla none. Stamens numerous, in- 

 serted into the base of the calyx. Fruit a globose berry, 1-celled, 5-seeded 

 from abortion ; seed covered with a spongy aril when mature. (Doji's Mill., 

 iL p. 55.) 



Genus I. 



ARISTOTE'LJ/l L'Herit. The Aristotelia. Lin. Syst. Polyadelphia 



Poljandria. 



Identification. L'Herit. Stirp.,p. 31 ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 56. ; Don's 3Iill.,2. p. 58. 



Derivation. Named in commemoration of Aristotle, the celebrated philosopher and naturalist 



• 1. A. Ma'cqvi L'Herit. The Macqui Aristotelia. 



Identification. L'Herit. Stirp., p. 31. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 56. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 58. 



Synonumes. ^. glandulhsa R. et P. Fl. Per. Syst., p. 126., Poir. Suppl., 587. ; A. Maqui in Dec. Prod., 



2. p"56. 

 Engravinns. L'Herit. Stirp., t. 16. ; Lam. 111., t. 369. ; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 44. ; N. Du Ham., 



t. 33 ; Otto, t. 88. ; E. of PL, No. 6597. ; and the plate of this tree in our Second Volume. 



Varieft/. 



» A. M. 2/dliis variegdtis. The variegated-leaved Macqui Aristotelia. 



Descriptio7i, ^c. The species is a shrub with spreading branches and per- 

 sistent leaves, which are almost opposite, with obvious petioles, and disks that 

 are oblong, acute, more than 2 in. long, and about 1 in. broad, dentately ser- 

 rate, glabrous, and of rather a full green colour. There are stipules, but they 

 fall off. The flowers are small, green, and yellow, disposed in axillary ra- 

 cemes : some of the stamens are sterile. It is a native of Chili, where it 

 forms an evergreen shrub, with diffuse branches, growing to the height of 

 6 ft. The flowers are not very showy ; but, in Chili, they are succeeded by 

 berries about the size of a pea, very dark purple, and at length becoming black. 

 They are acid, eatable ; and the inhabitants make a wine from them, which 

 they give in malignant fevers. In British gardens, it forms a sub-evergreen 

 shrub or low tree, of very vigorous growth ; so much so, in a young state, 

 that, from the shoots not being matured, they are frequently killed down to 

 the ground, and the foliage more or less injured. Notwithstanding this, the 

 aristotelia frequently flowers, and, against a wall, ripens fruit ; and, in all pro- 

 bability, if the tree were planted in dry and rather poor soil, so as to grow 

 slowly, and not make more wood every year than it could ripen properly, it 

 would attain a large size, and form a very handsome hardy evergreen shrub or 

 tree. There is a plant of it at Oriel Temple, near Dublin, which, in twenty 

 years, has attained the height of 16 ft. ; and there are specimens in most botanic 

 gardens. There is a large one at Messrs. Loddiges's, and one in the garden of 

 the London Horticultural Society, as a low bush, which, in 1835, flowered 

 freely. There is a tree at S3'0n, 18 ft. high. A standard in our garden 

 at Bayswater has stood since 1831, without the slightest protection, and 

 flowers freely; it is trained to a single stem, and is 8 ft. high; but would 

 probably have been twice that height if we had not been obliged to mutilate 

 it for want of room. The plant grows vigorously in any common garden soil, 



p p 



