plantjE javanicjE kariores. 663 



The generic characters of Bennettia are clear and im- 

 portant, but the affinities of the genus, or its place in a 

 natural arrangement, though determinable, are not equally 

 obvious. Many important points of agreement will readily 

 present themselves between Euphorbiaceae and Bennettia, 

 but the general resemblance it bears to Antidesmece is still 

 more striking. In their simple entire alternate leaves with 

 lateral deciduous stipules and in their inconspicuous uni- 

 sexual flowers they entirely agree, very nearly also in in- 

 florescence, in the structure of ovarium, in their monosper- 

 mous drupaceous pericarpium, and lastly, in the presence 

 and texture of albumen, and in the degree of development 

 of embryo. The principal distinctions would therefore be 

 reduced to the existence of petals in Bennettia, to its 

 stamina being equal in number to the divisions or parts of 

 both floral envelopes, to a remarkable and obvious differ- 

 ence in the structure and aestivation of antherse, and to 

 the singular character of its transverse embryo. The pre- 

 sence of petals may even be regarded as of more than ordi- 

 nary importance, their usual form in the male flower being 

 necessarily connected with the aestivation of stamina. 

 According to this view, therefore, Bennettia may be said 

 to bear the same relation to Antidesma (for Antidesmece 

 contains at present no other well-established genus) that 

 the polypetalous bear to the apetalous genera of Ewphor- 

 biacecB. But according to a principle which I proposed 

 for adoption in 1810, Bennettia ought not only to deter- 

 mine the place, but also give the name {Bennettiacece) to 

 the family. The principle referred to is stated in the 

 'Prodromus Florae Novse-Hollandiae,' p. 351, in a note 

 relative to Combretacem (an order then first proposed and 

 characterised), in the following terms: — "Hunc ordinem 

 inter polypetalos posui, non solum propter petalorum in 

 pluribus existentiam, sed quia vera natui'a partium affini- 

 tatesque ordinum, ex contemplatione generum in quibus 

 structura magis evoluta quam ex iis in quibus aliqua pars 

 suppressa, tutius erui queant." In 1814, in conformity 

 with the same principle, 1 placed among polypetalae Euphor- 

 biaceee, a family to which the same reasoning is still more 



