'2'2G Mr. Bentham's Observations on some Genera of Plants 



série qiiadriiplici corollse tubo accreta, iiiferioribus brevioribus. Antherœ siib- 

 rotiiudce. Gernien subrotuntliim. Sti/lns filiforniis, longitudine staininiun. 

 Stigma capitatnm subtiifiilain." 



The above cliaracter Mill be fountl in every respect, as far as it goes, ad- 

 mirably adapted to Pohl's Sfemmafosi/)lions, as well as to the original Si/mplocos, 

 and to Aiiblet's Ciponima ; for although the words Petala quinque rather indi- 

 cate a polypetalous corolla, yet their adherence at the base is plainly indicated 

 by the subsequent expression, Fitamenta .... tubo corolhe accreta. 



L'Héritier in the first volume of the Linncan Transactions (p. 174.) first 

 pio])osed the joining the genera Ilopea {Linn. Mant. p. 14.), Alstonia {Linn. 

 Fil. Snppl. p.39.), and Ciponima {ulnbl. Plant. Gaian.x. p. 567. t. 226.) to 

 .Si/m/)lncos, of which it became consequently necessary to modify the character 

 in many points, of which the most important are, Ca/i/x snperus quinqnepar- 

 titus. Corolla .... campanulata .... petalis s. laciniis 5 — 10 .... basi in 

 tubuni longitudine calycis coalitis .... Filamenta .... snbmonadelpha s. basi 

 ineequaliter connexa .... in plures ordines imbricata .... Germen inferuni 

 .... Stigma .... subquinquelobum. To these were also added the carpolo- 

 gical characters, Linnoeus liiniself not having seen the fruit of his S^/mplocos. 



In regard to the relative situation of the calyx and ovarium {or germen, as 

 it was formerly termed,) tliere is here an inconvenience in expression still 

 adhered to generally by British botanists, although long since adverted to and 

 corrected by continental authors, who speak of the calyx as J'ree or adnate, 

 instead of inferior and superior. In Si/mplocos and in all the genera associated 

 with it tlie tube of the calyx is generally more or less free from the ovary at 

 tlie time of flowering, but with the development of the fruit it adheres to it 

 moie and more, till, at tlie maturity, the tube of the calyx becomes entirely 

 confounded with the fleshy pericarj), and the segments alone remain free, 

 crowning the fruit at the top, — a circumstance difficult to describe with the 

 old nomenclature, unless on the supposition, that during the maturation the 

 calyx moves from its original point of insertion. 



As to the corolla and stamina, LTIéritier's character, intended to apply both 

 to Si/mplocos, Linn., and Ilopea, Linn., is not so correct as Linnfeus's for the 

 former genus, nor does it either apply with accuracy to the latter one, which 

 lias scarcely any tube to the corolla, and in which the stamina cannot be said to 



