} 
: 
Mr. J. Miers on Bursinopetalum. 219 
Chile, where it is known by the several names of Aceytunillo, 
Palo muerto, and Téque or Téke. Its leaves are 3 inches long, 
3-11 inch broad, on a petiole of 3 lines; the axillary racemes 
are 1 inch long; the pedicels 14 line, the flower in bud 1} line, 
the flower expanded 34 lines diameter; the sepals } line diam.; 
the petals 2 lines long: the female raceme is shorter (3-6 lines 
long), with flowers similar in size to those of the d; the drupe 
is 4 lines long, 3 lines diameter *. 
BurRsINoPETALUM. 
More than ten years ago, in alluding to the structure of this 
genust, I suggested that its characters were more in accordance 
with the Aguifoliacee than with Olacacee, to which family it 
had been referred. Since then (in 1855) Mr. Thwaites pub- 
lished an interesting note}, in which he stated that he had ex- 
amined living specimens, which led him to the conclusion that 
its real affinity was with Araliacee, pointing out the resemblance 
of its flowers to those of Hedera. I have recently repeated care- 
fully my former investigation, and am again struck with the 
many points of resemblance it offers to the structure of Villaresia, 
One of these characters—the imbricate estivation of the corolla 
—has been denied by Mr. Thwaites, who states that, after ex- 
amining the flowers of Bursincpetalum in the living state, he is 
convinced that it is valvate. It appears to me, however, that he 
has drawn this conclusion too hastily. I have observed, in the 
flowers of B. arboreum, which are 5-merous, that the margins 
of the petals distinctly overlap each othcr quincuncially, not to 
any very great extent, it is true, but sufficiently so to render the 
fact incontestable ; besides which, the apices of the petals are at 
the same time deeply inflected (as in Stemonurus) ; but, owing to 
the manner in which these inflected portions are held together by 
their imbricated plicature, I have found, in attempting to unravel 
the bud, that the petals do not open, because the whole corolla 
falls off in a cupular form with a slight touch. If the petals in 
this state be spread out radially when held together (as just 
stated) by their apical plicature in the centre, the quincuncial 
character of its zestivation then becomes palpably evident. I have 
seen the flower of Bursinopetalum tetrandrum only in bud, where 
I found the apices of the four petals overlapping each other in 
the apex, the more interior petal being opposite to the more ex- 
terior: this I could not unravel, as the petals adhered together 
so forcibly as to resist the attempt to separate them; but on 
* This plant, with full analytical details, will be figured in the ‘ Contri- 
butions,’ yol. ii. Plate 72. 
+ Ann, Nat. Hist, 2 ser. viii, 169; Contributions to Botany, i. 29, 
{ Hook. Kew Journ, Bot. vii, 242. 
