1 88 AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



Small tree with tvvo-petaled flowers: style short but present, 

 leaves 3-9 foliolate usually petiolulate, somewhat serrate, cori- 

 aceous. Petals short-clawed, obovate-oblong to ovate oblong 

 as long as the linear anthers. Fruit spatulate retuse to linear 

 oblong. Calyx truncate or somewhat toothed. 



Type Fraxinus dipetala Hook, and Arn. 



Petlomelia dipetala (Hook, and Arn.) Nwd. 

 Fraxinus dipetala Hook and Arn. Bot. Beech. Voy. p. 362, 

 t. 87, (1841). 



Ornus dipetala Nutt. Sylv. III., p. 66, t. loi. 



This genus differs from Ornus in the number of petals which 

 are two and so far distinct as to be in fact clawed. Style present, 

 whereas it is absent or almost so in Ornus. 



LuNELLiA, A New Genus. 



When first discovered the plant now commonly called Syntheris 

 or Wulfenia rubra was very mistakenly referred by Hooker"^ to 

 the genus Gymnandra to which the plant bears no near relationship 

 even. The author himself, however, later relegated it to Syntheris.^ 

 This genus at first suppressed by Dr. Britton^ as not sufficiently 

 distinct from Wulfenia as Dr. Greene showed in case of our Amer- 

 ican plants.'' The validity of the standing of Syntheris was dis- 

 cussed thoroughly by him, with the conclusion that the genus 

 can be scarcelv admitted apart from Wulfenia. Later another 

 segregation was proposed by Dr. Rydberg,^ with Wulfenia or 

 Syntheris alpina A. Gray as type, under the name Besseya. 



All these attempts at segregation are based on characters of 

 calyx, stamens or habit, and Syntheris rubra (Hook.) Benth., has 

 successively been relegated to all of these. The presence or absence 

 of corolla would seem certainly to be a character deserving generic 

 consideration. Everyone seems, however, to have either over- 

 looked, or disregarded this important character even though 

 known as constant. Though in Wulfenia the stamens are epipet- 

 alous the fact of their being situated on the outer side of the hy- 

 pogynous disk in the plant called W. rubra indicates more than a 



4 Dougl. in Hooker, Fl. Bor. Am. II., p. 103, (1840). 



5 Britton, N. L. 111. Fl. N. Am. III., p. 166, (1898). 



6 Britton, N. L. 111. Fl. N. Am., III., p. 199, (1913)- 



7 Greene, E. L., Erytliea, I. p. 80, (1894). 



8 Rydbcrg, P, A. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club. p. 279. (1903). 



