9fi Mr. J. Miers on the genus Scopolia. 



and the southern portions of Hungary : although thus frequent, 

 it cannot have attracted the notice of botanists, for I have not 

 been able to find in any herbarium, sufficiently satisfactory spe- 

 cimens from which a careful analysis of its characters could be 

 made. A small plant raised in Kew Gardens has, however, 

 aiForded the means of examining its flower in a living state, but 

 I was disappointed in watching the development of its fruit, as 

 it seems to require a more genial climate than ours, at the early 

 season in which it appears, to perfect its capsule : every search 

 in different herbaria for a specimen of its fruit has proved un- 

 successful. A very good analysis of the genus is seen in Nees^s 

 ' Gen. PI. Germ.,' but this does not explain the structural forma- 

 tion of its fruit. I have pointed out the existence oF the curious 

 apical gland covering the upper moiety of the ovarium in Hyo- 

 scyamus, as the cause of the transverse opening of its capsule ; 

 that of Physochlcena appears to originate from a similar cause, 

 only in a more modified degree. In Scopolia there is seen a 

 slight thickening of the upper portion of the ovarium, as in the 

 last-mentioned genera, and at the same time it is supported by 

 a thick fleshy basal gland as in Physochlcena. In Hyoscyamus 

 the operculum is hard, thick, osseous and hemispherical; in 

 Physochlcena it is flat and discoid : it remains to be seen therefore 

 in what state this exists in Scopolia. From the indications 

 offered by dried specimens farther advanced towards maturity 

 than the living flowers above alluded to, it appears to resemble 

 the structure of the last-mentioned genus. Unable to examine 

 the fruit of Scopolia, I have copied, in the following generic out- 

 line, the characters of the capsule and seed, entirely from Nees's 

 description and figure above quoted. 



Scopolia, Jacq. (char, emend.) . — Calyx turbinato-campanulatus 

 > breviter 5-dentatus, persistens. Corolla infundibuliformi- 

 campanulata, I5-nervis, limbi fere integri lobis 5, brevissimis, 

 obtusiusculis, sequalibus, sestivatione tubo subplicato, lobis 

 imbricatim dispositis. Stamina 5, sequalia, inclusa, imo tubi 

 orta ; filamenta brevia, basi dilatata et pilosula, superne teretia, 

 glabra; antherce ovatse, connectivo dorsali articulatim affixse, 

 imo cordatse, 2-loculares, loculis adnatis, rima marginali de- 

 hiscentibus. Ovarium conicum, disco carnoso 5-lobo basi 

 cinctum, 2-loculare, ovulis plurimis, placentis valde incrassatis 

 dissepimento utrinque adnatis. Stylus erectus, longitudine 

 staminum. Stigma capitatum, obsolete bilobum. Capsula 

 subgloboso-turbinata, coriacea, calyce membranaceo persistente 

 inclusa, 2-locularis, apice operculatim dehiscens. Semina plu- 

 rima, placentis crassis affixa, ovoidea, reniformia, testa gra- 

 nulosa, hilo laterali. Embryo teres, intra albumen subcarno- 



