Mr. J. Miers on the MeDispermacese. 189 



Chondodendron does not depart from the usual rule in the family, 

 of having six petals, corresponding with an equal number of 

 stamens. Owing to this misapprehension, the generic diagnosis 

 of Dr. Eichler requires correction : he attributes to the genus 

 from nine to twelve sepals j but if we add to these the six parts 

 above mentioned, we must reckon, from his own details, a total 

 of from fifteen to eighteen sepals — the number I originally 

 stated. 



This circumstance brings the genus Sychnosepalum of Dr. 

 Eichler much closer to Chondodendron than he imagined, the 

 principal distinction of the former consisting in the unusually 

 great number of its sepals, as its name imports. He describes 

 three species, to the first of which he attributes from eighteen 

 to twenty-four, and to the second eighteen sepals, thus corre- 

 sponding to the number in Chondodendron ; his third species, to 

 which he attributes a still greater number of sepals, will be seen 

 to belong to a very different genus, to which I gave the name 

 of Detandra"^. The next character which Dr. Eichler considers 

 peculiar to Sychnosepalum is the presence of six free carpels, 

 fixed by their stipitate supports upon a raised gynsecium : this 

 is also a prominent feature in Chondodendron, where the six 

 ovaries become matured into as many stipitated drupes, which 

 remain so firmly attached to the receptacle that they can 

 seldom be separated without rupture of the parts. In these 

 respects, and in the habit of the plants, as well as in the manner 

 of their inflorescence, there is an absolute identity of characters 

 between the two genera. The only feature that remains by 

 which Sijchnosepalum can be distinguished is the structure of 

 the stamens, which is certainly very different from that in Chon- 

 dodendron. Confiding in the accuracy of the analytical figures 

 given by Dr. Eichler, I have acknowledged his genus, for the 

 same reasons, partly, that I maintained Anelasma distinct from 

 Abuta, and also Elissarrhena from Anomospermum : but in 

 those instances this is not the only differential feature ; for others 

 are found in the habit of the plants, in the venation of the 

 leaves, and the character of the inflorescence. Dr. Eichler, how- 

 ever, refused, to acknowledge the validity of such differences, 

 and fused the two former and the two latter genera into each 

 other. If he persist in this view, he cannot avoid sinking 

 Synchnosepalum into Chondodendron, especially as it possesses 

 fewer claims to maintain its distinctness than the others. 



It should be mentioned that in the new ' Genera Plantarum,' 

 at p. 34, the name Odontocarya should be placed instead of 

 Chondodendron ; and, again, at p. 38, Chondodendron should be 



* Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 3. xiii. p. 124 ; Contrib. Bot. iii. 18. 



