TKANSACTIONS 



THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 



I. Synopsis Crescentiacearum : an JEnumeration of all the Crescentiaceous Plants at 

 present know7i. By Bebthold Seemann, Esq., Ph.D., F.L.S. 



Read November 17th, 1859. 



In 1853 I had the honour of laying before the Linnean Society a sliort paper on 

 CrescentiacecB (conf. Proceedings Linn. Soc. ii. p. 268), accompanied by a promise of a 

 more elaborate treatise on the same subject. As it was absolutely necessary to pay visits 

 to Vienna, Berlin, and Paris, in order to compare the herbaria of those places with the 

 notes made on the London Collections, I find myself only now in a position to fulfil my 

 promise. I have seen eleven species of Crescentiacece in a living state, five of them wild 

 in their native countries ; and have besides carefully examined the various herbaria, but 

 regret that these materials are not so complete as could be wished. Of some species 

 there are only single specimens preserved, and the friiit of most species is merely 

 superficially known. The generic characters are therefore in some instances left 

 incomplete, and the limits of a few species await further settlement. 



That the Crescentiaceous plants, or rather the genera Galea, Phyllarthron, Tancecium, 

 Parmentiera, Crescentia, and Kigelia constitute a closely associated group of the Personatce, 

 needs, as a universally accepted fact, no demonstration, — the views of Jussieti, who regarded 

 them as Solanacece, not having found any modern supporters. But it will be necessary 

 to say a few words respecting the diversity of prevailing opinions as to the affinity and 

 rank they hold in the natural system. It is stUl a matter of debate whether this group 

 should be regarded in the light of a separate order, or merely as a suborder of either Bigno- 

 niacecB or Gesneracece. Bojer (Hort. Maurit. p. 220) placed it with Bignoniaceoi (in which 

 he was followed by Don,DeCandolle,Eenzl*, Miers, and others) ; Endlicher and Miquel with 



* Fenzl associates three foreign elements with Crescentiacea : viz. Spatkodea, and Periblema, both Bipnoiiiacrre ; 

 and Bravaisia, a true Acanthacea (= Onchtjcanthns Cumingianus, Nees). 



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