THE AUSTRALIAN GREY MANGROVE. 259 



and a half inches, shining on the upper side, clothed with 

 a short tomentum on the lower. Oymes in capitate heads 

 on fairly long peduncles in the upper axils; bracts and 

 bracteoles small, hirsute with brown hairs, same as calyx, 

 which is five partite, segments ovate, imbricate, the two 

 within smaller than the other three. Corolla tube turbinate 

 {top shaped), lower half glabrous outside, lobes concave, 

 hirsute, anthers not exserted. Pistil short, bifurcated, 

 hidden except the stigma in the straight erect hairs at the 

 top of the ovary, which is glabrous and shining below this 

 tuft of hairs. Ovary imperfectly four celled with four pen- 

 dulous ovules. Capsule flattened, yellowish, dehiscing by 

 two thick valves, one seeded. Seed erect, hypocotyl villous, 

 but the hairs have not barbed tips. 



In this connection it may not be out of place perhaps to 

 mention that Robert Brown in Prod. PI. Nov. Holl., 1882-5, 

 p. 374, states: — "Embryonis radicula barbata." A feature 

 recently claimed to have been discovered by Karsten, 

 are the anchoring hairs of the hypocotyl of Avicennia 

 officinalis, but no traces of such could be found on the 

 specimen examined by me. 



3. Synonymy. 



It was not until trying to specifically place the botanical 

 material for this research that the confusion surrounding 

 this species of the genus became apparent. The Index 

 Kewensis gives fourteen species in all, and of these twelve 

 are synonymised under A. officinalis, the other A. nitida, 

 standing as the only other valid species. When the genus 

 is monographed I should not be surprised if the greater 

 number of these were found to be good species. 



To me, it seems scarcely possible that one species, A. 

 officinalis should have such an extensive range as the 

 synonyms (ante) would indicate. 



