74 Botany of the Tenasserim Provinces, 



terials already formed towards a flora, may be estimated, 

 I think, at 3,000 species. 



The flora of Mergui appears to me almost entirely different 

 from that of Moulmein ; the difference in latitude being 5°. 

 The climate is, perhaps from its immediate proximity to the 

 sea, more equable than either Moulmein or Tavoy. 



In the following remarks, I shall follow the arrangement 

 laid down by Dr. Lindley in his Nixus Plantarum, not that 

 I profess myself to be a judge of its merits, but simply 

 because it is convenient. 



Ranunculacece are represented by Naravelia zeylanica, which 

 occurs both smooth and pubescent, and by a distinct species 

 of Clematis, with simple fleshy leaves, and which although it 

 has erect seeds, has an inverted embryo lodged in the apex of 

 the albumen. 



Nymphceacece. — In addition to two species of Nymphrea, a 

 Barclaya, probably B. oblonga, occurs. The placentae of the 

 mature fruit are very spongy and almost farinaceous. The 

 seeds are immersed in a transparent gelatinous fluid, and 

 contain a minute inverted embryo lodged in a cavity in the 

 albumen near its base. The albumen consists of a congeries 

 of sacs, within which the fecula is deposited. 



Nelumbiacece. — Nelumbium speciosum occurs cultivated. 

 The structure of the leaves is sufficiently remarkable. The 

 stomata are confined to the callous discoloured spot, visible on 

 the centre of the lamina, and opposite to the termination of 

 the petiole. The remainder of the vast limb is merely minutely 

 papillose on its upper surface. The stomata are crowded on 

 the above spot, and open into irregular cavities, which com- 

 municate directly and freely with the cavities existing in the 

 petiole, and with the continuations of these which run along 

 each side of the peltately disposed veins. These cavities 

 have no communication with that part of the parenchyma 

 in which the green colouring matter is formed. There is how- 

 ever a slight communication between this parenchymatous 



