260 R. T. BAKER. 



The descriptions of the species are scattered through 

 much botanical literature, and consequently great difficulty 

 was experienced in trying to trace Linnaeus' description 

 of A. officinalis, and even now I am not sure of my 

 ground, as all the descriptions of this tree, within the last 

 fifty years are no doubt composite ones, and include 

 several good species. As far as I have been able to pene- 

 trate the subject, I consider at least A. tomentosa and A. 

 alba as distinct from what I regard as A. officinalis. The 

 nearest description of the species of this paper is that 

 published in Kirk's "New Zealand Flora," p. 271. Porster 

 originally named this A. resinifera, but it has since been 

 shown he was in error in ascribing a resinous exudation to 

 his New Zealand Mangrove. The resin found in the mud 

 amongst the New Zealand Mangrove was the Kauri resin 

 now well known, and did not come from this mangrove. The 

 New Zealand Mangrove appears to be identical in some 

 respects with the Australian, and further evidence may 

 show a close connection with the Indian and American 

 species. 



As far as I have been able to ascertain, no plate of 

 Linnseus' A. officinalis is extant, and most of the illustra- 

 tions going under the name are either A. tomentosa or A. 

 alba, or another synonymised species, but in order to more 

 definitely systematically place the species, a full description 

 is given above, in which will be found differences from those 

 descriptions and figures in Wight's Ic. t. 1481, under the 

 name of A. alba and A, tomentosa, now synonymised as 

 A. officinalis. The leaves also figured (Joe. cit.) differ from 

 those of this species. 



4. Systematic Position of this Australian Mangrove. 



Most of the descriptions of A. officinalis give the leaves 

 as "obovate, cuneate, obtuse" which does not apply to this 

 species, nor can it be A. tomentosa, figured by Wight Ic* 



