A REVISION OP THE GENUS BERTIERA 111 



distributed of any of the species which have been relegated 

 to the genus, although it does not extend beyond the American 

 tropics. 



The next published mention of Bertiera occurs in F. Gaertner's 

 Carpologia (p. 75, t. 192), published in 1805, in which the fruits 

 of two species are figured and described. The distinction between 

 the two is based upon the character of the persistent calyx which 

 crowns the bilocular berry. In one, B. mucronata, the segments 

 of the calyx-limb are erect and more or less rigid ; this appears to 

 be identical w4th Aublet's B. guianensis, and is so regarded by 



A. Eichard (Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat. Par. v. 254). The question 

 cannot, however, be finally decided, as Gaertner describes the 

 fruit only, and gives no hint of locality ; he makes no mention of 



B. guianensis. In Gaertner's other species, B. Zaluzania, the 

 calyx-segments are reflexed or spreading and ultimately form an 

 umbilicus on the berry. This plant, rightly referred to the genus 

 Bertiera, had been described and figured in MS. by Commerson as 

 a new genus, Zalnzania ; the latter collected it in Mauritius — a 

 locality widely remote from that of B. guianensis, and at the 

 other extreme of the area of distribution as known at the present 

 time. 



F. Gaertner also described what was to prove a third species 

 of Bertiera, and in a third distinct area of distribution, namely, 

 the African continent. The plant in question was collected by 

 Smeathman in Sierra Leone, and named Genipa labiata in 

 L'Heritier's herbarium. Gaertner founded the genus Pomatium 

 upon this plant (Carpol. 252, t. 225, fig. 10), naming it P. spicatum, 

 and giving a short description of the general external characters 

 of the whole plant, as well as of the fruit. The latter has the 

 spreading calyx of the B. Zaluzania type [sup-a), and Smeath- 

 man's plant, which is preserved in the National Herbarium, is 

 undoubtedly referable to the genus Bertiera [v. infra). An inter- 

 esting feature of Gaertner's description is his recognition of the 

 near affinity between his Pomatium and Hamelia. 



Poiret in his continuation of Lamarck's Encyclopedia (Encyc. 

 Meth. Supp. i. 625) recognizes two of the three species already 

 referred to — B. guianensis and B'. Zaluzania ; but makes no refer- 

 ence to Pomatium, which was, doubtless, unpublished at the time 

 he was preparing this part of his w^ork. 



A. Eichard published his " Memoire sur la Famille des 

 Eubiacees" in 1829, in the fifth volume of the Mem. Soc. Hist. 

 Nat. de Paris. He there gives descriptive characters for the 

 genus, and recognizes six species, viz. : — B. guianensis and 

 B. Zaluzania, previously described ; B. africana, the name he 

 gives to the Pomatium spicatum of F. Gaertner (supra), after 

 pointing out the identity of the latter genus with Bertiera; and 

 three new species of his own description — B. horhonica and 

 B. fera from the island of Bourbon (He de la E6union), and 

 B. palustris from Guiana. 



A. Eichard further identifies J. Gaertner's genus Tarenna 

 (Fruct. i. 139, t. 28 (1788)) with Bertiera; but from Gaertner's 



