[ 671 ] 



XLIII. Account of two new Genera allied to Olacinese. By George 



Bentham, Esq., F.L.S. 



Read December 15th, 1840. 



A.MONG the plants collected by Mr. Schomburgk in British Guiana, are 

 two species of a new genus allied in many respects to the order ofOlacinece; and 

 in a collection from a very different quarter, Port Natal in South Africa, com- 

 municated to me by Mr. Harvey, are fine specimens in flower and fruit of 

 another new genus related to the same order, Apodytes dimidiata, named by 

 Ernst Meyer among Drfege's plants, but as yet undescribed. As the deter- 

 mination of these genera has led me into some inquiry as to the affinities of 

 others belonging to the same group, and as they may serve in some measure 

 to throw light upon this small but curious order, I beg to offer to the Linnean 

 Society the accompanying figures and descriptions, together with such obser- 

 vations as have suggested themselves to me. 



The Olacinece were first established as a distinct order by Mirbel*, who 

 placed them among Polypetalce near Aurantiacece. Jussieuf, in adopting 

 the order, insisted upon its near relation to Symplocece, near which he had 

 originally J enumerated Olax amongst the "genera Sapotis aflSnia." Brown 

 afterwards § replied to Jussieu's objections to the affinities he had formerly || 

 pointed out between Olax and the Santalaceoe, and admitting the Olacinece as 

 a separate order, still concluded, nevertheless, that they should be placed next 

 to Santalacece. Since that time, however, botanists do not appear generally 

 to have adopted that opinion; and DeCandoUe^, Wight and Arnott**, 



* Nouv. Bull, de la Soc. Philomathique, 1813, p. 377. 



t Mdmoires du Musium, toI. ii. p. 439. t Oenera Plantarvm, p. 153. 



§ Appendix to Flinders' Voyage, p. 570, and Appendix to Tuckey's Congo, p. 552. (Verm. Schr. 

 ed. Nur., vol. i. pp. 89 and 260.) 



II Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl., p. 357. % Prodr. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 531. 



** Prodr. Fl. Penins. Ind. Orient., vol. i. p. 88. 



