LVI. 
LACATHEA FLORIDA. 
Florid Lacathea. 
ORDO NATURALIS. 
Aurantia. Juss. Gen. p. 259. 
_—_——— 
Sect. IIT. Filamenta €0-200. Anthere reniformes. Fructus polyspermus. 
Calyx profunde 5-fidus, deciduus. Corolla rotata, profunde 5-fida, decidua. Filamenta basi 
corolle inserta ibidemque parum coalita. Pericarpium ligneum, sphxricum, 5-loculare, 5- 
valve; basi apiceque fissuris 10, alternis permedium loculorum, dehiscens. Semina 5-7 in 
singulis loculis, axi imbricata, cuneiformia, angulata. Arbor facie Gordonix, per hyemem 
denudata. Gemme conice. Folia frondosa, laminis obovato-lanceolatis, serrutatis. Flores 
grandes, in uitimis acillis subsessiles. Sui generis esse suadent calyx, insertio Jilamentorum, et 
pericarpium: doleo quidem, ut ‘in hoc ordine tot genera unica specie absoloantur ; sed cavere 
ne ** ordines’ad genera reducamus imo tandem et classes” in Phil. Bot. monet Linné. Nomen 
a vocibus ra valde et xaiyuas sedeo, petitum. 
-L. foliis vix acuminatis, junioribus subtus tomentosis. 
Gordonia pubescens. Mich. Fi. Boreali-Am. v. 2. p. 42. Gordonia pubescens. L’Herit. 
Stirp. p. 156. Gordonia Franklinia. L’Herit, Stirp. p. 156. Gordonia pubescens. Cav. 
Diss. p. 308. ¢t. 162. Franklinia Alatamaha. Marsh. Arbust. p. 48. . 
Sponte nascentem infra Fort Barrington, solo humido arenoso, legit J. Bartram. 
Floret Augusto, Septembri. 
Nothing evinces the sound judgment of a botanist more than his opinions respecting genera: 
it behoves him therefore who labours in this branch of the science, to proceed cautiously, and 
study if possible, all the genera allied to that. which he means to ‘establish. Linné first pro- 
a certain degree of conformity in the fructification of different v eiables, which decides the 
matter imperatively, and often contrary to our will and pleasure: for while some genera consist 
of a hundred, two hundred, and even three hundred species, in others such a peculiarity of 
flower and fruit is confined to one individual. In numerous genera moreover, the stigma 1s 
seldom ready to receive the pollen discharged by its own anthers, whereas in those which consist 
of a single species, there is often a physical impossibility for it to imbibe that of any other ; and 
our great master’s theory respecting the origin of the vegetables which cover this earth, is 
strongly corroborated by the above facts. is ? : as 
these considerations I must follow John Bartram, the venerable discoverer of the tree 
now figured, in separating it from Gordonia, though against the authority of that excellent 
year, the pericarpium slightly immersed im the receptacle, besides having 5 styles ; he has thus 
I . fa. 
pretence to call it Franklinia: it differs from Gordonia in the filaments not being inserted in — 
5 solid bodies; from Hamocharis (G. Hamatoxylum Swartz) in its monopetalous corolla ; 
Stuartia in its deciduous calyx; from Malachodendron in its simple style ; and from all of 
them in the structure of its fruit and seeds. Nothing could be more luxuriant than the flowers 
were this autumn in the open air at Messrs. Lee and Kennedy’s nursery, where the drawing was 
