Drs. Hooker & Thomson on the genus Decaisnea. 53 



uess of the order even where the prominent characters of the in- 

 sertion of the ovules and the digitate leaves are absent. This is 

 remarkably the case in the plant to which the authors of this paper 

 called the attention of the Society, and of which a figure was placed 

 on the table. 



This interesting plant, which was originally discovered in Bhotan, 

 by Mr. Griffith, is briefly referred to in his ' Itinerary Notes,' under 

 the name of Slackia insig/iis, a name evidently imposed on a con- 

 viction that the many striking characters which it presents warranted 

 the establishment of a new genus, to which, however, no characters 

 were assigned. Tliat name having (before the publication of these 

 ' Itinerary Notes,' in which it was only a manuscript designation,) 

 been appUed by Griffith himself, in his ' Essay on Palms,' to a genus 

 of that order, the authors proposed to designate the plant now de- 

 scribed, Decaisnea, after the distinguished monographist of the group 

 to which it belongs, as the two genera of Orchidece which have been 

 so called have both proved to have had earlier names. 



Decaisnea, Hf. Sf Thorns. 



Sepala 6, liiieari-subulata. Petala 0. Stamina in flore masculo niona 

 delpha, in herinaphrodito parva hbera. Ovaria 3, Unean-oblonga" 

 Ovula placentis 2 liliformibus pavallelis, suturae ventrali approximatis 

 sed ab ea discretis, inserta, indetiiiita, anatropa. FoUicuU pulpa le- 

 pleti. Sernina iiidefiiiita, compressa ; testa laevi, nitida, Crustacea, atvo- 

 fiisca. 



Frutex Himalaicus erectus ; foliis alternis, pinnatis \ inflorescentia race- 

 mo.sd, lerminali ; flordjus pallide viridescentibus. 



Decaisnea insignis is a native of the temperate parts of the Eastern 

 Himalaya, at elevations between 8000 and 10,000 feet. As men- 

 tioned above, it was first discovered in Bhotan by Griffith. Dr. 

 Hooker's specimens are from the interior of Sikkim. It is an erect 

 shrub, with large simply pinnated leaves, and a nearly simple trunk, 

 marked by large scars after the leaves fall away, as in many Araliacece. 

 The nearest analogy is no doubt with the section Mahonia, of the 

 genus Berberis, but the leaves of Decaisnea are soft and thin, not 

 rigid and prickly as in Berberis. The flowers are arranged in elon- 

 gated racemes, and closely resemble those of other Lardizabalea. 

 Their colour is pale green, slightly tinged with purple towards the 

 apex. The sepals are elongated to a subulate point, and there 

 are no petals. The stamens on the male flower are monadelphous, 

 and very like those of Stauntonia or Parvatia. In the fertile flower 

 the stamens are free and very small, but the anthers always contain 

 pollen, so that the flowers are rather polygamous than dioicous. 

 The most remarkable character is exhibited by the ovaries, which, 

 though externally not unlike those of Hollbollia, have the ovules 

 arranged in a double series along two elevated lines, one on each 

 side of the ventral suture, and not scattered over the whole surface 

 of the ovary as in all the other genera. The same arrangement is 

 preserved in the ripe fruit, which consists of three large follicles full 

 of an agreeably-flavoured solid pulp, dehiscing along the ventral 



