CHAP. XXXVII. HOMALINA^CEyE. ARlSTOTE v L/^. 54$ 



lections are four : Aristotelia Macqui, and the variety of this with variegated 

 leaves ; and two species of Azar« : both genera are natives of Chili. The 

 genus Aristoteh'a is considered by botanists as only allied to Homalonaceae ; 

 but we have placed it first in our enumeration, as being both the most con- 

 spicuous, and the hardiest plant of the order. 



Aristote^ljj L'Herit. Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla of 5 petals, inserted 

 into the bottom of the calyx. Stamens 15 — 18, 3 — 4 in a fascicle in front 

 of each lobe of the calyx. Ovary free. Fruit a globose berry, 3-celled, the 

 cells 2-ovuled, 1 — 2-seeded. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 56.) 



Az\ k ra R. et P. Calyx 4— 7-parted. Corolla none. Stamens numerous, in- 

 serted into the base of the calyx. Fruit a globose berry, I-celled, 5-seeded 

 from abortion j seed covered with a spongy aril when mature. {Don's MilL, 

 n. p. 55.) 



Genus I. 



ARISTOTE x L//i L'Herit. The Aristotelia. Lin. Syst. Polyadelphia 



Polyandria. 



identification. L'Herit. Stirp., p. 31 ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 56.; Don's Mill.,?, p. 58. 



Derivation. Named in commemoration of Aristotle, the celebrated philosopher and naturalist 



*. \. A. Ma'cqui L'Herit. The Macqui Aristotelia. 



Identification. L'Herit. Stirp., p. 31. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 56. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 58. 



Synonymcs. Aglandulbsa R. et P. Fl. Per. Si/st., p. 126., Poir. Suppl., 587. ; A. Maqui in Dec. Prod., 



2. p. 56. 

 Engravings. L'Herit. Stirp., t. 16.; Lam. 111., t. 369.; Wats. Dend. Brit, t 44.; N. Du Ham., 



t. 33 ; Otto, t. 88. ; E. of PI., No. 6597. ; and the plate of this tree in our Second Volume. 



Variety. 



* A. M. 2fbliis variegdtis. The variegated-leaved Macqui Aristotelia. 



Description, $c. The species is a shrub with spreading branches and per- 

 sistent leaves, which are almost opposite, with obvious petioles, and disks that 

 are oblong, acute, more than 2 in. long, and about 1 in. broad, dentately ser- 

 rate, glabrous, and of rather a full green colour. There are stipules, but they 

 fall off. The flowers are small, green, and yellow, disposed in axillary ra- 

 cemes : some of the stamens are sterile. It is a native of Chili, where it 

 forms an evergreen shrub, with diffuse branches, growing to the height of 

 6 ft. The flowers are not very showy ; but, in Chili, they are succeeded by 

 berries about the size of a pea, very dark purple, and at length becoming black. 

 They are acid, eatable ; and the inhabitants make a wine from them, which 

 they give in malignant fevers. In British gardens, it forms a sub-evergreen 

 shrub or low tree, of very vigorous growth ; so much so, in a young state, 

 that, from the shoots not being matured, they are frequently killed down to 

 the ground, and the foliage more *or less injured. Notwithstanding this, the 

 aristotelia frequently flowers, and, against a wall, ripens fruit ; and, in all pro- 

 bability, if the tree were planted in dry and rather poor soil, so as to grow 

 slowly, and not make more wood every year than it could ripen properly, it 

 would attain a large size, and form a very handsome hardy evergreen shrub or 

 tree. There is a plant of it at Oriel Temple, near Dublin, which, in twenty 

 years, has attained the height of 16 ft. ; and there are specimens in most botanic 

 gardens. There is a large one at Messrs. Loddiges's, and one in the garden of 

 the London Horticultural Society, as a low bush, which, in 1835, flowered 

 freely. There is a tree at Syon, 18 ft. high. A standard in our garden 

 at Bayswater has stood since 1831, without the slightest protection, and 

 flowers freely ; it is trained to a single stem, and is 8 ft. high ; but would 

 probably have been twice that height if we had not been obliged to mutilate 

 it for want of room. The plant grows vigorously in any common garden soil, 



p p 



