On the Genus Achlys. 



A Morphological and Systematic Study. 



By 

 Hisayoshi Takeda, I). I. ('. 



Lately Demonstrator of Botany, Royal College of Scienc , London. 

 With Bale VII and 3 text-figures. 



Achlys, a small genus of Berberidaeeae, was founded in 

 1821 by De Candolle (5, p. 35) for a North American plant 

 previously known as Leontice triphylla Sm. (16, no. 5). This 

 monotypic genus was enriehed by Maximowicz (13) in 1S67, 

 who described a second species, A. japonica. Ten years later, 

 T. Ito, when working out the Japanese Berberidaeeae at Kew, 

 reduced this second species into the former, regarding it as a 

 mere variety (11, p. 435). The Japanese plant ma}-, however, 

 be discerned as a distinct species 11 , hence the genus includes, at 

 present, two closely related species. 



When establishing this genus, De Candolle had only an 

 imperfect specimen in Smith's herbarium at his disposal, and, 

 as a result, his description 2 - 1 of the floral structure is very un- 

 satisfactory. 



One of the remarkable points in De Candolle's account is 

 that he describes the presence of numerous petals, which was 

 positively denied by Smith (16, no. 5). 



Little was known about this genus before 1829 when Sir 

 William J. Hooker published a very detailed description ol .1 

 triphylla, which was accompanied b}' a beautiful plate (10, p. 



1) The reasons are given below (p. 180). 



2) 'Calyx Petala oo minima linearis ferfc tubulata. Stamina filamentia i lanius 



culis basi attenuatis apice diktats, antherae loeulis vald§ descretis riu\9 transversal] 



dihiscentibus.' 



