40 D. Prain — The Asiatic specipf! of Dalbergia. [No. 1, 



lent by Dr. Treub ; 16. Herb. Hong-Koncr, lent by Mr. Ford. To 

 all these friends and also to Mr. Bailey wlio .kindly Font specimens 

 of the only Dalbergia in the Brisbane Herbarium the writer wishes to 

 express his grateful thanks. 



It may be explained that the classification adopted in this list 

 should be considered more or less tentative. The chief point, at this 

 stage, is to arrive if possible at something approaching a definite 

 idea of tlie various species. This, as will be seen from the 

 quoted synonymy, has long been a desideratum ; previous treatises 

 have left many doubts both as to the limits of species and as to the 

 incidence of names. That the present sketch is not without flaws in 

 this respect goes without saying. The opportunities, however, which 

 have been afforded the writer of examining the actual types of most of 

 the doubtful forms have enabled him to settle definitely many if not all 

 the old doubts ; any new ones that may arise must be laid to his 

 charge. The leading features of the present system of classification 

 are { 1 ) tlie reinstatement of Mr. Bentham's very natural subgenus 

 Triptolemea, and (2) the limitation of the subgenus Selenololium to 

 those species that have thick corky pods. There is an obvious convenience 

 in keeping alongside of each other three species so clearly and 

 naturally allied as are D. reniformis, I). Kunstleri and B. f ale at a though, 

 from the fact that the stamens of the first are iso-diadelphous while 

 those of the second and apparently also the third are monadelphous, 

 we have within this section a cleavage on another plane, corresponding 

 exactly to the cleavage between Dalhergaria and Sissoa, The other 

 species that have been occasionally placed in Selenolohium owing to 

 their having hard woody pods, not obviously winged, but that 

 do not have the ventral suture markedl}^ widened in consequence of 

 a corky thickening of the endocarp, are all species that occur on 

 sea-shores or in tidal estuaries and are with hardly an exception 

 confined to such localities. This raises a strong suspicion that the 

 character is a consequence of environment; it is at all events a 

 character that adapts the pods for dispersal by floating. If this suspicion 

 should prove correct the value of the character as a taxonomic one 

 is greatly minimised. Such species have therefore been relegated to 

 those sections in which their characters of corolla and stamens would 

 naturally lead us to place them. Within the subgenus Sissoa a new 

 section, that of the Unguiculatse, has been tentatively recognised ; it 

 promises to be a useful and appears to be a natural division. 



I. Sissoa Benth. 



1. Sissoas verae. 



I. Dalbergia Sissoo Eoxh. Hort. Beng. 53 (1814) ; DC, Prodr. 



