: DIAGNOSES SPECIERUM NOVARUM. 207 
as 5 thin seminiferous plates within the carpellary valves which, 
recurving as they dry, gradually expose the plates with the seeds. 
Seeds with at each end a thread aril the whole as much as I cm. 
long; the body of the seed fusiform pale brown barely 1 mm. 
long, the funicular and chalazal arils white and of about equal 
engt 
Forrest in this plant. gives us another of a series of 
which hitherto we have known .from China only two 
species :—Rh. emarginatum, Hemsl. et Wils., a plant collected 
by Henry at Mengtsz, and Rh. euonymifolium, Lévl., a plant 
gathered in Kweichow by the French Missionaries. ‘These three 
form a small series or perhaps phylum of Chinese species the 
relationship of which awaits working out. It may not be amiss 
here to point out that there are in the Philippine Islands some 
species—Rh. quadrasianum, Rh. malingdanense, Rh. rosmarini- 
folium—which in habit of foliage appear to have some relationship 
with the Chinese ones I am writing about. As to what is the de- 
gree of kinship I have no material from which to attempt to arrive 
at a conclusion and little attention has been given to links between 
the Eastern Asiatic Mainland species and those of the islands to 
the South. In the case I present we have an interesting field of 
‘investigation which has not been gathered from. 
Rhododendron sperabile, Balf. f. et Farrer. 
Fruticulus lignosus ramos plurimos erectos emittens. Rami 
juveniles circ. 3 mm. diam. indumento denso albo persistente e 
pilis lanatis crispatis siccis cum setulis rubro-glandulosis inter- 
mixtis aedificato vestiti, indumento in ramis vetustioribus nigri- 
eante. Perulae alabastrorum aciculares ut rami indutae. Folia 
petiolata ad 8.5 cm. longa; lamina crasse coriacea oblongo-ovalis 
ad 8 cm. longa 2 cm. lata acuminata mucrone rubro tuberculato 
apiculatim terminata, margine cartilaginea plana vel paullo re- 
curva, basi subattenuata et nunc subauriculata; supra in juven- 
tute indumento albo e pilis intertextis dendriformibus ramos 
tendrilliformes gerentibus et e setulis rubris glandulis intermixtis 
aedificato obtecta, in maturitate pilorum vestigiis in costa media 
sulcata notata et pedibus setularum ubique plus minusve punctu- 
lata pallide viridis, venis primariis utrinsecus ad 12 impressis 
pinnatim patentibus picturata ; subtus primo alba demum pallide 
fulva indumento persistente lanato crasso alveolato e pilis 
elongato-dendriformibus multi-ramosis ramis crispatis ubique 
obtecta ; petiolus circ. .5-1 cm. longus ut rami vestitus. Flores 4- 
5 in umbellam terminalem dispositi ; bracteae internae sub anthesi 
plus minusve persistentes membranaceae obovato-spathulatae 
subtruncatae apiculatae dense sericeae et sparsim setuloso- 
glandulosae ; bracteolae breves circ. 5 mm. longae pilosae; pedi- 
