208 PHANEROGAMIA. 



inclining to baccate, but apparently opening loculicidatty at the apex 

 at full maturity : the cells nearly filled by the large and fleshy or 

 pulpy placentae. Seeds very numerous and crowded on the surface of 

 the placentae, obovate or globular, somewhat angled by mutual pres- 

 sure ; the testa very strongly reticulate-pitted, conformed to the nucleus : 

 inner integument thin. Embryo nearly cylindrical in the axis of the 

 fleshy albumen, occupying about half its length, straight : radicle next 

 the hilum : cotyledons short, semiterete. 



The tissue of the placentae is replete with acicular crystals (ra- 

 phides) : but I have not observed them in the seed-coats, where, 

 according to Mr. Bennet, they abound in Saurauja. 



This quite " ornamental plant" is nearly allied to the genus Sau- 

 rauja, principally differing from it, indeed, in the union of its styles 

 into one. The prevailingly trimerous pistil, the cohesion of the very 

 base of the calyx with the base of the ovary, and the want of a hypo- 

 gynous disk, are subsidiary characters ; which decide us to establish a 

 distinct genus for our plant, even if we do not thus separate Malacho- 

 dendron from Stuartia. The discovery of a plant so exactly like 

 Saurauja, but with united styles, is particularly interesting from its 

 bearing on the affinities of that genus, which has always been con- 

 sidered as a somewhat paradoxical member of the order Ternstros- 

 miacece, Dr. Lindley having even proposed its transference to the 

 Dilleniaceo3 ;* and Dr. Planchonf having indicated some striking 

 points of resemblance with Clethra. The first-mentioned view, at 

 least, which was probably suggested by the distinct styles of Saurauja, 

 along with a certain similarity in the foliage, is set aside by the plant 

 now made known. 



With much satisfaction I dedicate this genus to Joseph Drayton, 

 Esq., the principal of the scientific artists of the Expedition, of no 

 small attainments in natural history, especially in Conchology, to 

 whose pencil and superintendence the illustrations of the whole inver- 

 tebrate Zoology of the Expedition owe their high perfection. 



Plate 15.— Draytonia rubicunda : a branch, of the natural size, 

 with flowers and fruit. Fig. 1. Portion of the deciduous chaffy scurf, 



* The Vegetable Kingdom, in loco. 



f In Hooker's London Journal of Botany, 5, p. 253. 



