570 



HYDRANGEACE/E. 



[Perigvxous Exogexs. 



None of these appear to be of much use to man. Hydrangeas have been cultivated 

 as warden ornaments from the most ancient times in China and Japan. The leaves of 

 H. Thunbergii are dried in Japan, and used as a kind of tea, which for its excellence 

 they call Ama-tsja, or Tea of Heaven. Another sort of 'tea is furnished by Platycrater 

 arguta. — Siebold. 



GENERA. 



Hydrangea, L. 

 Hortensia, Juss. 

 Feaulia, Comm. 

 Primula, Lour. 



Cardiandra, S. et Z. 

 Platycrater, S. et Z. 

 Schizophragma, S. et Z. 

 Jainesia, Torr. et Gr. 



Cornidia, R. P. 



Sarcostyles, Presl. 

 Broussaisia, Gaud. 



Adamia, Wall. 



Cyanitis, Reinw. 

 Bauera, Sm. 



Numbers. Gex. 9. Sp. 45. 



Position. — Saxifragaceae.- 



Phitadelphacece. 



-Hydraxgeace£. — Cunoniacese. 

 CaprifollacecB. 



Hensloviace.e, {Lindi. in But. Rep. lO.fol. lf!86. (July 18341 ; Martius Conspectus, No. 77; Ed. pr. 

 cxxiv.; Endl. Gen. p. 2yl). Trees, with the habit and inflorescence of Myrobalans. Leaves opposite, 

 entire, without stipules. \Yood regularly zoned, with very abundant vasifonn tissue 

 (dotted ducts). Flowers by abortion S $ Calyx 5-parted, lined with a woolly 



disk, with a valvate aestivation. $ Stamens 5, alternate with the sepals, perigy- 

 nous, long, exserted, inflexed in aestivation ; anthers 2-celled, with a broad connec- 

 tive, the lobes oblique, bursting longitudinally. A rudiment of an ovary. ? 

 Ovary Superior, 2-celled. with very numerous ovules attached horizontally to a pla- 

 centa in the axis ; style cylindrical ; stigma obsoletely 2-lobed ; ovules with a large 

 conspicuous foramen next the hilum. Fruit a capsule, bursting through the cells into 

 2 valves. Seeds 0(1, minute, scobiform, with the skin drawn to a point and winged 



on one side, an oblong nucleus, and no albumen. Radicle next the hilum. 



After vain attempts at settling the true place of the genus Henslovia in the 

 Natural System (see the last edition. No. cxxiv.) , some specimens with ripe fruit, 

 for which I am indebted to Mr. Griffith, place the question nearly at rest. The 

 habit of the plant was evidently that of Viburnum ; but its superior ovary and inde- 

 finite ovules forbade, any reference to Caprifoils. But Hydrangeads differ from that 

 Order mainly in their indefinite seeds, small quantity of albumen, and constant ten- 

 dency to produce a superior ovary. Henslovia agrees with them still further ; the 

 flowers are polygamous, the seeds are winged, which is also the case in Hydrangea 

 cordifoiia and others ; and the albumen is wholly deficient. The chief distinction 

 consists in the complete adhesion of the styles into one undivided cylinder: but 

 among Hydrangeads we have the same peculiarity in Schizophragma and Brous- 

 saisia. On that account, however, Henslovia may be regarded as a relation of Brexia, 

 but its decidedly opposite leaves are unfavourable to the union of the two in the same 



Order. Henslovia consists of 3 or 4 species of trees inhabiting the tropical parts of 



India. — Only Genus. Henslovia, Watl. of which Crypteronia, Bl. is a synonym, and Quilouwm, 

 Blanco, according to Planchon. 



Fig.CCCLXXXV. 



Fig. CCCLXXXV.— Henslovia. 1. its seed ; 2. its embryo. 



