457 
XXIX. Note on Hamamelis and Loropetalum ; with a. Description of a New Aniso 
phyllea/rom Malacca. By Daniel Oliver, Esq., F.L.& 
Read February 20th, 1862. 
AN examination, some months ago, of the genera of Hamamelideae, in respect to the 
relations of a plant which I have since described in the Society's * Transactions'* (Sycopsis), 
incidentally led me to the comparison of the American and Asiatic species included, pro- 
visionally, in the genus Hamamelis by the late Robert Brown in his Botanical Appendix 
to Abel's ' China ' f. I have since re-examined both species (H. virgmica and H. chinensis), 
and feel satisfied that they cannot be regarded as truly congeneric, and that they were 
rightly separated by Walpers, though without amended generic diagnoses, in his * Annales ' 
(vol. L p. 275) — the Chinese plant under the name Loropetalum, as suggested by Mr. 
Brown. 
They differ primarily in the structure of the anthers, lobation of the calyx, and foliage. 
The anthers of the Chinese plant have their cells opening each by two vertical valves, and 
their connective produced into a curved subulate appendage equalling or slightly ex- 
ceeding the cells. The calyx is quadrilobate, the scar of the limb being near the summit 
of the fruit, or about f ths from the base. The leaves are evergreen, entire, with a few 
curved and anastomosing secondary lateral veins. In H virgmica, on the contrary, the 
small anther-cells open each by a single, strongly recurved valve ; they are destitute of 
the produced connective ; the calyx is divided almost to the base ; the deciduous leaves 
have, on each side the midrib, usually 5 to 7 straight, secondary veins, passing directly 
to the margin. These differences, I believe, constitute valid grounds for the generic 
separation of the two species, and the name Loropetalum, as suggested by R. Brown, 
may suitably attach to the Chinese plant. The genus Hamamelis, however, is not lost to 
Asia : a plant growing in Japan (H.japonica, Sieb. et Zucc.) is, as remarked by Dr. Asa 
Grayj, extremely near to H. virginica, and doubtless referable to the same genus with it. 
In the Japanese plant the fruit becomes nearly superior, the scar of the calyx-limb being 
about ith from the base. The foliage closely corresponds with that of the American 
species 
Adopting the genus Loropetalum, the uniovulate genera of Hamamelideae may be 
briefly diagnosed thus : 
Flores apetali. 
Parrotia, C. A. M. Stamina 5-7 (antheris breviter mucronatis [P. persica], v. muticis [P. Jacquemontiand]) 
Ovarium semiinferum . Folia decidua. (Caucasus, Persia, Kashmir.) 
Supra, p. 83. 
t Page 375. 
X Bot. Memoirs, from ' Mem. Am. Acad. Arts and Sciences,' n. Sj toI. vi. p. 390. 
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