SYNOPSIS OF THE HEMIMERIDE.£, 
/ SYNOPSIS OF THE HEMIMERI- 
DEJE, A TRIBE OF SCROPHU- 
LARIACEJE. 
By George Bentham, Esq., F.L.S. 
THE genus Hemimeris was first esta- 
blished by Thunberg (Nov. Pl. Gen. Pars. 
4.) for five Cape plants, characterized 
chiefly by a rotate corolla, with the ‘ fos- 
sula laciniarum nectarifera." It was taken 
up by Linneus, on Thunberg's authority, 
but for a long time the plants themselves 
appear to have been lost sight of, especi- 
ally by continental Botanists, and the 
above-mentioned character misunderstood. 
Willdenow considered as additional species 
of Hemimeris, two Peruvian plants, here- 
tofore placed in Celsia (now in Alonsoa, 
. et P.), and which have no concavities 
at the base of the corolla, nor any thing to 
which the words ** fossula nectarifera" could 
be applied, although he still retained them 
in the generic character. His example 
was followed by Persoon, Kunth, and 
others, some of whom inserted, and others 
silently omitted the “ fossula laciniarum 
nectarifera," which they could not find in 
the Peruvian plants. Link and Otto on 
the other hand, having at length one of the 
Cape species under cultivation, were struck 
by these remarkable concavities, and not 
perceiving that they were the original 
foundation of Thunberg's character, esta- 
blished a new genus under the name of 
Diascia. This was taken up by Sprengel, 
who transferred to it all Thunberg's Hemi- 
merides, and left to the latter genus neither 
the character nor any of the species origi- 
nally contemplated by its author. 
In restoring the name of Hemimeris to 
these original species, it has appeared to 
me, however, adviseable to separate the di- 
dynamous from the diandrous ones, as the 
difference in the stamina is accompanied 
by a decided diversity in the form of the 
corolla; and as the name of Diascia hap- 
pens to have been given to a didynamous 
species, and is more particularly applicable 
to the form of the corolla in that group, 
I have so applied it, retaining the dian- 
drous ones alone in Hemimeris, that is to 
A TRIBE OF SCROPHULARIACEEX. 13 
say, the H. montana and sabulosa of Thun- 
berg, with one new species. 
In Diascia the concavities of the corolla 
are often each of them elongated into a 
spur, which is sometimes remarkably long ; 
but this is a character so little accompani 
by any difference in habit, that it is im- 
possible to make use of it to subdivide the 
enus. The inflorescence, however, serves 
to establish two groups so natural that 
one would be tempted to consider them as 
genera, could any corresponding difference 
be traced in the floral organs, which is not 
the case, as far as I can perceive, but no- 
thing is more difficult than to ascertain the 
form of the corolla in this set of plants 
from dried specimens. 
I propose referring to Diascia the He- 
mimeris diffusa, macrophylla, and pro- 
bably H. unilabiata of Thunberg, although 
I have not seen any specimens correspond- 
ing exactly with his description of the lat- 
ter species. The D. elongata comes near- 
est to it, but the corolla cannot be said to 
be ‘‘bicornis,” nor are the sepals obtuse, 
and in the description of both H. macro- 
phylla and unilabiata there i is foes En o 
sion * Capsula calyce p t coronata, 
which I cannot understand, and if correct, 
would exclude them altogether from the 
order of Scrophulariacee. To Diascia I 
should also, with Sprengel, refer the An- 
tirrhinum longicorne, Thunb., easily re- 
cognized by its corolla and long capsule 
(erroneously described as eder and 
one-valved), and I have now added thirteen 
new species. 
The close affinity between Thunberg’s 
Hemimeris and the Cape Antirrhina, now 
forming the genus Nemesia, had already 
struck that author when he placed them 
next to each other, and although subse- 
quent Botanists, having chiefly the Alon- 
soc in view, have almost all removed He- 
mimeris to the neighbourhood of Celsia, 
yet it appears to me more natural to return 
to the old arrangement, and I have accord- 
ingly placed Nemesia in the present group. 
The structure of the sexual organs is the 
same as in Diascia, but the two concavities 
of the corolla are confluent into one pouch 
