Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina. 39 



Don, the Spircea harhata of Wallich, but not of Lindley,) is 

 probably polygamo-dioecious, like our own species ; at least, the 

 flowers are apetalous in a fragment given me by Prof. Royle, and 

 the stamens mostly equal in number to the sepals. I have no 

 doubt that these three species belong to a single and very natu- 

 ral genus, for which the name of Astilhe must be retained ; for I 

 see neither justice nor reason in superseding the prior name, as 

 suggested by Endlicher,* on account of the incompleteness of 

 the character, which correctly describes one state, at least, of the 

 plant intended, by the subsequent Hoteia, the character of which 

 is equally incomplete, when applied to the whole genus.f The 



* " Si, quod nunc asserunt auctores, Iloteia et Astilhe, Don, revera plantce conge- 

 neres,posterius incomplete ab auctore suo descriptum supprimendum, etprius egre- 

 gie stabilitum servandum erit." Endl. Gen. Suppl. p. 1416. 



t Since the above remarks were written, 1 have seen in the Annales des Sci- 

 ences J^aturelles for January, 1841, M. Decaisne's additional JYote sur les genres 

 Astilhe et Hoteia, in which the two genera are still held to be distinct, the latter in- 

 cluding the North American plant, as originally proposed by this author. The char- 

 acters of his two genera (excluding such as are common to both) are merely these : 



AsTiLBE. Floi-es hermaphroditi, vel sa^pe stam. abortu fQ3minei. Petala nulla. 

 Stamina 5. 



HoTEiA. Flores hermaphroditi. Petala 5, angusta. Stamina 10, quinque pe- 

 talis opposita breviora. 



Since, then, it appears that the Asiilbe rivularis is more or less dioecio-polyga- 

 mous, the view I had already taken is certainly confirmed; and when this acute 

 and justly distinguished botanist becomes acquainted with the two states of the 

 American species, and considers that the stamens of the original Astilhe are proba- 

 bly sometimes double the number of the sepals, as described by Don, he will doubt- 

 less come to the same conclusion. The diagnostic characters of the three species 

 may be thus expressed. 



ASTILBE, Hamilton, ex Don ; Torr. 8^ Gray, (\ioteia, Morr. &/• Decaisne.) 



1. A. RivuLARis {Hamilton, Don) : floribus saepe dicecio-polygamis, calyce 4-5- 

 partito imo ovario tantum adnato, petalis (an semper ?) nullis, staminibus 4-5 

 nunc 8 (ex Don.) — Spirsea barbata, Wall. cat. ; Camh. in Jacquem. hot. p. 48. t. 58 

 ex Decaisne. 



Hab. in montibus Nepalensibus. 



2. A. DECANDRA {Don) : floribus dicecio-polygamis, calj'ce 5-partito imo ovario 

 tantum adnato, petalis anguste lineari-spathulatis (in pi. fert. subnullis), staminibus 

 10 (in pi. fert. abortivis). — Spirsea Aruncus var. hermaphrodita, Michx. Tiarella 

 biternata. Vent. hort. Malma.is. t. 34. Astilbe decandra, Don; Torr. 8,- Gray, fl. 

 JY. Amer. 1. p. 589. Hoteia biternata, Decaisne, in ann. sci. nat. {ser. 2.) 2. t, 11. 



/. 11 ir 12, &r 7, p. 36. 



Hab. in montibus CaroliriEe et Tennessee. 



3. A. Japonica : floribus hermaphroditis, calycis profunde quinquefidi tube 

 basi ovarii adnato, petalis oblongo-spalhulatis, staminibus 10. — Spiraea Aruncus, 

 Thunb.jl. Japan, pi. 211, non Linn. S. barbata, Lindl. hot. reg. t. 2011, non Wall. 

 Hoteia Japonica, Morr. 8^ Decaisne, in ann. sci, nat. {ser. 2.) 2. t.U, & 7. p. 36. 



Hab. in Japonia. 



