this my idea be correct, the B. humilis of Botanical Register 
t. 284. cannot be the same; for it is there figured with large 
and dense panicles of numerous flowers, the staminiferous blos- 
soms having four, almost equal, white petals, the stem wanting 
the beautiful transparency so striking in our plant, the stipules 
very large, tipped with a mucro, and the leaves, besides their 
larger size, and deeper green colour, being represented as wholly 
destitute of any kind of hairiness. I am aware that the de- 
scription in the Bot. Reg. speaks of the hispidity and ciliation of 
the foliage ; but that is professedly copied from DryANDER’s 
B. humilis. Gaw.rx’s plant is the B. suaveolens of Lov- 
DIGES and Haworru, according to the latter author. 
T confess that I can find no difference in the B. lucida of 
Haworth, in the work quoted above; and the author says of 
it, “ Affinis maximé B. humili.” 
B. humilis of Bonrianp is considered by GaWLER as a 
distinct species, and is probably really so, being neither his nor 
our plant, since it is described as having the stem roughly furred. 
BonpPLanD, in his beautiful work on the Plants of _the 
Garden at La Malmaison, has no doubt, with great propriety, 
formed of this single genus the Order Begoniacee. ‘The ques- 
tion is, what are its natural affinities? Linnaus ranked it — 
with the Polygona and Rumices, and SMITH and Dr Can- 
DOLLE seem to be satisfied of the propriety of this arrange- 
ment. Brown observes, that its place is not satisfactorily de- 
termined ; while Mr Linpiry, in a recent number of the Bot. 
Register, thinks that he has detected a remarkable affinity be- 
tween the genera Begonia and Hydrangea, adding, that the 
idea of its being allied to the Polygonece, probably originated 
im the taste of the leaves, which bears assuredly a striking re- 
semblance to that of the foliage of different species of Fumew. P 
Indeed, such is the agreeably acid flavour of the leaves 0 
these plants, that the French colonists in the West Indies eat 
them under the name of Wild Sorrel. —— 
As a genus, it is found in the tropical parts of America, - 
several districts of the East Indies, in the Isles of France am 
Bourbon, according to Mr Brown, upon the Island of aren 
iadagascar ; but none of the species have been detecte 
in Africa, although the B. diptera of DRY ANDER, from Joanna, 
has erroneously gone under the appellation of B. Capensis. 
PME cece enrre Dae, ee eee ena 
Fig. 1. Portion of a plant, natural size. Fig. 2. Male and female flowers. 
Fig. 3. Sagprget ceo Fig. 4. ‘Single stamen. Fig. 5- os 
and pistils. Fig. 6. Germen cut , to show the 3 cells, and t 
3-winged receptacle of the seeds. Fig. 7. Capsule burst open, having 
