102 TERNSTROMIACE^. 



OVARY five-celled, the cells opposite the petals : style colum- 

 nar, five-crenate at the apex : stigma five-rayed. Ovules 

 anatropous, 4 to 8 in each cell, resupinate-pendulous from 

 the inner angle in two series, collateral, imbricated, the dor- 

 sal raphe flattened or produced superiorly ; the micropyle 

 centripetal-superior. 



Capsule ovoid, minutely silky, ligneous, five-celled, locu- 

 licidally five-valved from above downwards ; the upper part 

 of the dissepiments borne on the middle of the valves, while 

 the lower remains coherent with the persistent columella 

 (which is angled or narrowly winged by the five projecting 

 placentte), and at length breaks away from the base of the 

 valves. Seeds 2 to 8 in each cell, pendulous ; the woody 

 testa produced above (on the side of the raphe) into more 

 or less of a wing. Albumen none. Embryo (in G. Lasian- 

 thus) filling the cavity of the seed, almost straight : cotyle- 

 dons oval, subcordate, thin or nearly foliaceous, flexuose- 

 biplicate ; the radicle short, centripetal-superior. 



Shrubs, or small trees; with the oblong-lanceolate or lan- 

 ceolate-obovate leaves ample, pinnately veined, more or less 

 serrulate, exstipulate, coriaceous and persistent, or in G. 

 pubescens thinner and deciduous, separating from the stem 

 by a distinct articulation. Buds not perulate. Peduncles 

 axillary, one-flowered. Flowers large and showy, white. 



Etymology. This fine genus, founded on G. Lasiantlius, the Lohlolly 

 Bay of the Southern States, was so named by Dr. Garden, as stated in a 

 letter to Ellis, " in honor of my old master, Dr. James Gordon, at Aberdeen, 

 a very ingenious and skilful physician and botanist, who first initiated me 

 into these studies, and tinctured my mind very early with a relish for them." * 

 But from the Philosophical Transactions, and from Ellis's correspondence 

 with Linnasus, it appears that the honor was transferred to James Gordon, 

 the celebrated nurseryman of that day, at Mile End near London. The name 

 of Franklinia, given by Marshall to the G. pubescens, (which is not unlike- 

 ly to be restored as a genus,) was a compliment to Benjamin Franklin. 



Geographical Distribution. The Loblolly Bay is indigenous to the 

 low country from Virginia to Florida, growing in swamps or moist, turfy 

 soils. The G. pubescens is very local in the southern part of Georgia and 



* Correspondence of Linnaus, by Sir J. E. Smith, Vol. I. p. 378. 



