TERNSTROMIACE^. 103 



the adjacent portion of Floridn. Whether the Indian species distinguished 

 as genera by Korthals, &c., referred as sections to this genus hy Endlicher 

 (Suppl. 3. p. 94), are correctly associated with it, I have not the means of 

 knowing, and have therefore left them out of view. 



Properties. Our two species are very ornamental shrubs or small trees 

 in cultivation (and G. pubescens is hardy as far north as Philadelphia, and 

 flowers through the summer) ; but they are applied to no other use ; ex- 

 cept that the bark of the Loblolly Bay has been used for tanning. Accord- 

 ing to Elliott, " the bark is said to be nearly if not quite equal to that of the 

 oak for the uses of the tanner ; and its wood resembles mahogany in color, 

 but its grain is rather too coarse to be used for fine articles of furniture." 



Note. The five phalanges of stamens evidently arise, like those of 

 Tilia, &c., from the deduplication of the petals. In G. pubescens the sta- 

 mens are Ivulv pentadelphous, but the filaments of each cluster appear to 

 arise immediately from the face of the petal, while in G. Lasianthus they are 

 borne on a fleshy and deeply five-lobed cup, the lobes of which are partly 

 free from the petals. The fine capsules of G. pubescens which ripened last 

 autumn at Laurel Hill, Philadelphia (and for which I am indebted to Miss 

 Morris) , contained well-formed seeds, widely different in form from those of 

 the typical species, but in none was an embryo found. 



Division. Unless the internal structure of the seed of G. pubescens 

 should prove materially different from that of the Loblolly Bay, it should be 

 retained merely as a subgenus of Gordonia, characterized as follows : — 

 ^ 1. Gordonia proper. — Filaments short, arising from the partly free 

 summit and inner surface of the five thickened lobes, which are confluent 

 at the base into a fleshy cup. Capsule pointed with the base of the short 

 style ; the valves entire. Seeds 4 or by abortion 2 in each cell, pendu- 

 lous from its inner angle towards the base, the testa extended upwards 

 into a conspicuous membranaceous wing. — G. Lasianthus, L. 

 § 2. Franklinia, Marsh. (Lacathea, Salisb.) — Filaments elongated, di- 

 rectly connate with the bases of the petals. Style elongated, deciduous. 

 Ovules 6 to 8 in each cell, downwardly imbricated, the raphe somewhat 

 widened but not winged. Capsule loculicidally 5-valved from the obtuse 

 apex to below the middle, and also septicidally 5-valved from the base to 

 near the middle. Seeds 6-8 or by abortion fewer in each cell, closely 

 packed together on the whole length of the salient axile placenta, angled 

 by mutual pressure, the loose testa scarcely if at all produced into a 

 wing. Embryo unknown. — G. pubescens, L'ller. 



PLATE 140. Gordonia Lasianthus, Linn. ; — a branch with an expand- 

 ed flower and a flower-bud, of the natural size ; from a plant in the 

 Botanic Garden, brought from Wilmington, North Carolina. 

 1. Diagram, in a transverse section of a flower-bud. (The three outer 

 Hnes represent the bractlets on the apex of the peduncle.) 



