450 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Daphnidiea, and Tetrantherem to the former, and Acrodiclidia, Nec- 

 tandrea, Dicypettiea, Flaviflora, Oreodaphnea, and Pcrsece to the latter. 

 He remarked, however, that some of the two last divisions, such as 

 Haasia, Machilus, and Alseodaphie, belonged to the west, and that 

 Endiandrete, as defined by himself, extended from the east, their 

 proper country, as far westward as America ; while the Phoebea, 

 chiefly American, were represented by certain species of Ajjollonias as 

 far east as the Canary Islands and India. So, too, among the essentially 

 eastern Tetr anther ece, Laurus nobilis spreads over Europe to the west 

 of the Mediterranean, and other Tetrantherea had been observed in 

 Mexico and the neighbouring countries. Another American member 

 of this tribe is now known, Orcodaphne californica Hook. & Arn. In 

 short, Nees' large divisions have ceased to be valid, so many are the 

 exceptions now known. But the classification is not wholly useless, 

 and, speaking generally, it is usually correct. The eastern division 

 extends to 25° 30' N., though some Lauracece go so far as 40°, but 

 decreasing greatly in numbers. On the south of the Equator it 

 extends to Van Diemen's Land. The western region is bounded by 

 35° ~N. and 35° S. In our hemisphere, Laurus nobilis extends at 

 least as far as 45°. In the south, Oreodaphne and Apollonian on the 

 west of Africa, and the Phcebea, Persece, Cn/ptocaryea, and Oreo- 

 daphnea on the east coast thereof, represent the family in Madagascar, 

 the Mascarene Islands, and even the Cape of (rood Hope. 1 Now 

 that a larger number of generic types is known, their geographical 

 distribution may be given as follows. Out of the 47 genera retained 

 as true Lauracece 22 are exclusively American, and 19 have only 

 been observed in the Old World. Among these latter come all the 

 CinnamomecB, except Persea and Phoebe, which are also found in the 

 New World. Of the Cryptocaryecs, Cryptocarya alone is common to 

 both worlds. All the other genera are American excepting Ravensara 

 from Madagascar, and the three Oceanian or Asiatic genera, Endi- 

 andra, Dictyodaphne, and Bihania. All the genera of Ocotea are 

 American, though a small proportion of the species of the genus 

 Ocotea occur in Africa and Madagascar. Tetrantherea, on the con- 

 trary, belongs to the Old World, excepting some species of the large 



>Nees {op. ait., 6S8) indicates by fractions Tropical Asia, ^- = -^-; Tropical America, 



the proportion of LauracecB in the flora of each iss 1 ^ . , . n i 



country. These are his numbers :— «6uo = WW ' *«"ra-tropical America, — = -— ; 



Australia, — = -- ; Europe, — 



' 4UUU WO ' ""'"1" i 7uuu - 



