38 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 



tion. My observation upon dried specimens leads me to an 

 opposite conclusion, for I find in every instance I have examined, 

 that the stamens are bearded even in the male flowers, that is to 

 say, vi^here the ovarium has been quite sterile : and even in vv^hat 

 are called female flowers, that is, where the ovarium is ovuli- 

 gerous, the stamens are equally barbed, whether the anthers be 

 charged with pollen or filled only with a grumous mass. I am 

 therefore led to the irresistible conclusion, that the plant figured 

 by Dr. Wight as the male plant of Gomphandra polymorpha 

 belongs to a distinct genus, being a species of Blume^s Platea, 

 which will be hereafter described. As additional evidence in 

 favour of this conclusion, I may mention the fact, that Dr. Wight 

 describes the male plant in plate 953 as flowering in the months 

 of March and April, and the female plant in plate 954 as having 

 its fruit ripened in the same months : this would occur probably 

 alone on the supposition that the fruit was the production of a 

 previous y call's growth. 



Among the Ceylon collection of the late Mr. Gardner (no. 102) 

 is a plant which I take to be the variety longifolius of this spe- 

 cies : it is certainly different from the longifolius of Dr. Wallich^s 

 collection, which will be presently described ; the leaves are here 

 of a light pallid green ; two or three short dichotomous racemes 

 grow out of each axil ; the calyx is entire, but the petals and sta- 

 mens have all fallen away ; the ovarium is long and cylindrical, 

 and is terminated by a flattened 5-lobed disk, which considerably 

 exceeds in diameter that of the ovarium ; it is 1 -celled, with two 

 large ovules suspended from near the summit of the cavity : on 

 account of the clavate form of the ovarium this affords a good 

 illustration of Dr. Wallich^s genus Gomphandra, and is well 

 represented in Wight^s ' Icones,^ tab. 954. figs. 6 & 7. The 

 remarks offered upon the development of the ovarium in >S^. affinis 

 will equally apply to the present instance*. 



14. Stemonurus Gardneri, n. sp, ; — glaber, ramulis teretibus, 

 subflexuosis ; foliis ellipticis, utrinque acutis, apice obtusius- 

 culo breviter lineari-angustatis, glaberrimis, valde coriaceis, 

 utrinque eveniis, costa nervisque supra impresso-sulcatis, 

 subtus prominentibus, inferne subferrugineis margine revo- 

 luto, petiolo longiusculo, tereti, superne baud sulcato ; racemo 

 oppositifolio, petiolo longiori, floribus masculis paniculatis 

 5-meris, staminibus in alabastro petalis brevioribus, pilis cla- 

 vatis antheris brevioribus munitis; fructu oblongo, disco 10- 

 lobo umbilicato coronato. — In Mont. Neilgherrensib. 

 The plant here described was sent to me by the late Mr. Gai-d- 



ner as the Gomphandra pohjmorjjha, being collected by him as 



* The analysis of the structure of the flowers and of the seed of this 

 species will be shown in plate 13 of the ' Contributions to Botany,' &c. 



