obtained from the Xanthoxylaceae. 201 



first, as you are aware, considered as identical with Fagara Avu 

 ceniKB, Lam.; and, as far as the description of that plant goes, 

 I see little to distinguish them, except the generally smaller 

 number of leaflets and the little asperities of their surface ; but 

 as Mr. Bentham has, in his 'Flora of Hongkong,' identified 

 Lamarck's plant with a totally diff"erent species, to which La- 

 marck's description is at least equally applicable, I adopt his 

 determination without hesitation, and describe your plant as 

 new. I may add to the synonyms of X. Avicenna, DC. and 

 Benth., the X, clava Herculis, Lour, nee Linn., as proved by 

 Loureiro's specimen in the herbarium of the British Museum. 



" Your other Xanthoxylum from Talie-whan is one of the finest 

 and most remarkable species of the genus. Many botanists, I 

 doubt not, would regard it as constituting a new and very distinct 

 genus ; but, taking into account the numerous transitional mo- 

 difications of structure and the consequent phalanx of merely 

 conventional genera that have already been formed at the ex- 

 pense of this extensive and polymorphous group, I cannot but 

 agree with those who prefer to unite them all, or nearly all, 

 under one generic name. I regard your plant, however, as 

 ofi'ering sufficient characters to constitute a well-marked sub- 

 genus, and I am disposed to consider in the same light Euodia 

 and Boymia (whether kept separate or combined), inasmuch as 

 approximations to a valvate aestivation of the petals and super- 

 posed ovules are to be found in species having alternate as well 

 as opposite leaves. If opposite leaves and superposed ovules 

 were alone to be regarded, your plant would belong to the same 

 division with Euodia {Boymia included) ; but as far as I am 

 acquainted with the fruit of the other species, it differs from 

 them remarkably in the form and arrangement of the cocci. I 

 proceed, therefore, to give its characters as a subgenus, premising 

 that I have seen only specimens with ripe fruit : — 



" Gen. Xanthoxylum. 

 " Subgen. OocyactiSy Benn. 



"Cocci 5 (rarius 4), stellatim dispositi, in valvulas 2 apice acumi- 

 natas dehiscentes, ideoque aequaliter 1 0- (8-) radiati. Semina 2, 

 perfecta, superposita. 



"X [Oxyactis) Danielli. PI. V. fig. 1. 



"X inerme, foliis oppositis imparipinnatis 5-9-foliolatis, foliolo 

 terminali longius- reliquis brevipetiolulatis, omnibus basi rotun- 

 datis ovatis obtuse acuminatis superne glabris inferne in nervis 

 margineque puberulis obsenre crenulatis nisi in crenularum axillis 

 impunctatis, corymbis (fructiferis) folio brevioribus terminahbus 

 divaricatim ramosis. 



" The common petioles are from 3 to 6 inches long, rounded, 



