112 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



description, as well as the figure, the calyx appears to be 4-merous, 

 while Bertiera seems to be essentially 5-merous, as Kichard 

 himself implies in his description of the allied genus Higginsia 

 (loc. cit. 255). The rugose seeds of this Tarenna, again, do not 

 correspond with the foveolate seeds typical of Bertiera ; nor, 

 moreover, does the locality — Ceylon — favour the suggestion that 

 Gaertner's Tarenna is synonymous with Bertiera. Gaertner's 

 fruit very probably is that of an Adenosacme, an Asiatic genus 

 with which Bertiera has been confused by Blume and Don 

 (infra). 



De Candolle in his Prodromus (iv. 392 (1830) ) adopts five of 

 the six species in Eichard's memoir, from which the essence of 

 his descriptions is taken, differing from the latter author in 

 retaining Pomatiimi as a genus. He follows, however, the error 

 of Blume (Bijd. Fl. Ned. Ind. 987) in associating the genus 

 Mycetia of Eeinwardt with Aublet's Bertiera, and so adds three 

 Javan species to the latter genus ; they belong, however, to 

 Adenosacme (v. Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. II. i. 69). 



G. Don (Gard. Diet. iii. 505 (1837)) follows De Candolle 

 exactly in the enumeration of the species, adding one, B. coccinea, 

 which has since been identified with Musscenda elegans. He 

 admits, however, that his species is "not sufficiently known," and, 

 strangely enough, treats the subject of its culture and propagation 

 under Miisscenda. Don retains the genus Pomatium. Under the 

 head of " species not sufficiently known " Don described tw^o 

 species proper to Bertiera under Wendlandia, an Asiatic genus, 

 viz., W. inlosa and W. racemosa. The former is identical with 

 B. africana Eich. — i. e. with Pomatium spicatum Gaertn. ; the 

 type of Don's plant is preserved in the National Herbarium. The 

 type of W. racemosa, also in the National Herbarium, has no 

 flowers, but fruits only. Bentham, in Hooker's Niger Flora, 

 p. 394, discusses Don's W. racemosa, pointing out that the fruit 

 and seeds do not in any way correspond structurally with those 

 of Wendlandia, suggesting Bertiera as the proper genus, in spite 

 of the unusually large size of the berry ; specimens collected since 

 fully justify this suggestion, and Don's plant was undoubtedly a 

 Bertiera. Bentham described at the same time a new species, 

 B. laxa, from Fernando Po, with inflorescence of the lax thyrsoid 

 type characteristic of the American and Mascarene species. 



Since Bentham's work just mentioned (1849) until the present 

 time only three new species from America have been described, 

 and one from Madagascar. The most numerous additions have 

 been from the African continent, so that the African species 

 known now far exceed the rest in number. 



It will be gathered from the foregoing brief historical sketch 

 of our knowledge of the genus that its distribution is somewhat 

 curious. Unlike its ally Hamelia, Bertiera is not confined to the 

 New World. There are three areas of distribution, no species 

 being common to any two of them, viz. : (1) The tropical American 

 area; (2) the tropical African area; (3) Madagascar and the Masca- 

 rene Islands. Within each area, again, the distribution is limited. 



