NOTES ON THE GENERA DARWINIA HOMORANTHUS AND RYLSTONEA. 65 
“OQalyx cylindrical, lobes broad, entire or shortly ciliate, flowers 
in heads.” —Darwinia. 
“Oalyx cylindrical, lobes 5, subulate, entire, flowers in heads.” 
—Homoranthus. 
‘“Calyx cylindrical, lobes 5 to 10 digitately divided, flowers 
nodding, not in heads.”—A#y/stonea. 
“Calyx hemispherical, lobes 5 or 10 deeply divided into subulate 
plumose or hair-like processes, flowers in corymbose heads.” 
— Verticordia. 
Now if we carefully analyse the characters as given 
above, we must arrive at the conclusion that the plants 
placed in the genus Rylstonea are as already suggested 
by Maiden and Betche (op. cit., xxiv, 645, 1899) ‘“decidedly 
a connecting link between Verticordia and Darwinia 
(including Homoranthus).’’ It remains to be seen, however, 
if the ‘“‘shape of the calyx and the calyx-lobes,”’ characters 
upon which both Cunningham and Baker have founded the 
respective genera Homoranthus and Rylstonea are suflici- 
ently strong to maintain them when carefully studied with 
the abundant material that has since been brought to light. 
Kven Bentham! who had less material to work upon, 
doubted if Homoranthus of Cunningham could be main- 
tained as a good genus, for we find he says :— 
“Homoranthus A. Cunn., is a single species which has scarcely 
even the claims of Actinodium to be excluded from Darwinia, 
differing from the latter genus only in the subulate calyx-lobes. 
Its retention may, however, be justified as facilitating the distinc- 
tion between Darwinia and Verticordia.” 
Then we have some remarks by Baillon (‘Natural His- 
tory of Plants,’’ v1, 323, 1880), as follows:— 
“Some species of Darwinia ditfer from Chamelauciwm only in 
the form of their anthers, the latter being nearly globular and 
opening near their organic summit, that is above and without, by 


2 Jour. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) Vol. x, p. 129, (1869). 
E—June 7, 1922. 
