AQUIFOLIACE^E. 295 



The specimens (with young fruit) accord with the var. p. of Sir 

 William Hooker's article, above-cited, to which the reader is referred 

 for a full account of this plant, the celebrated Paraguay Tea. It is 

 used in Paraguay, &c, in much the same manner as was the Yapon 

 (a related species of Ilex) by the aborigines of North Carolina. 



3. Ilex Yitiensis, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 25.) 



L foliis ovalibus subacuminatis integerrimis tenuiter coriaceis; floribus 

 abortu dioicis in cymulas breviter pedunculatas dispositis, masculis 

 4— 6-mem, foemineis scepissime S-meiis; py rents 8 dorso profunde 

 sulcaiis. 



Hab. Sandalwood Bay, Vanua-levu, Feejee Islands. 



A shrub with ash-gray bark, glabrous throughout, except a very 

 slight pubescence on the pedicels and calyx. Leaves oval, one and a 

 half to 2 inches long, abruptly and obtusely somewhat acuminate, 

 entire, thin, but coriaceous in texture, mostly rounded at the base, dull, 

 rather obscurely veined; the petioles 3 or 4 lines long. Peduncles 

 axillary, 3 or 4 lines in length, bearing a small cyme, very much 

 shorter than the leaves ; in the sterile plant more or less compound 

 and with numerous flowers; in the fertile simple and mostly few- 

 flowered. Flowers dioecious by abortion, barely a line in length ; the 

 male flowers i-'o-merous, more commonly hexamerous, with a rather 

 deeply cleft calyx, and an abortive pistil; the petals united only at 

 the base, longer than the stamens. Corolla and stamens of the female 

 flowers not seen; the persistent calyx obscurely eight-toothed, at 

 least in most cases. Drupe (immature) a line long, obtusely apicu- 

 late ; the 8 nucules deeply excavated on the bach. 



This plant, which is probably related to Blume's Ilex cymosa, would 

 be a Prinos, except that the nucules of the drupe are deeply grooved 

 on the back. The number of parts in the flower is far too variable 

 for a generic character, when not accompanied by other distinctions. 

 I believe, therefore, that the genus Prinos must be merged in Ilex. 



Plate 25, A. — Ilex Yitiensis ; with immature fruit. Fig. 1. Bud 

 of a sterile flower. 2. Corolla of the same, laid open, and stamens. 



