146 GORDONIA. 



The known species of Goedonia and the Asiatic species 



of Haemocharis. 



The most outstanding species of. the whole genus is the North 

 American G. pubescens. The following enumeration will be start- 

 ed with it. 



Gordon ia pubescens, Ulleritier, Stirpes novae, 1784, p. 

 156. 0. Altamalia, Sargent, Manual Trees, X. America, 1905, 

 p. 679. 



This species used to be found on the Altamaha river in 

 Georgia but has long been extinct in a wild state. Its leaves have 

 a conspicuous venation. Its flowers are 8 cm. in diameter on short 

 peduncles. Its stamens are inserted separately, and their length 

 relative to the size of the flower is small. The ovary is " truncate 

 and crowned with a slender deciduous style nearly as long as the 

 stamens." The capsule is globose and septicidal from the base. 

 Its seeds are very characteristic, sharply defining it from all other 

 Gordonias : for they are wingless. 



There is a line figure of it in Sargent's book. 



G. Lasianthus, Linnaeus, Mantissa 1771, ii. 570 : Sargent, 

 Manual Trees, N. America, 1905, p. 678 : in foliar characters lies 

 close to the above : the venation is distinct. The flowers are on 

 long peduncles slender below, but thickening to the flower: they 

 are 6-8 cm. in diameter, white, and with the relatively short stamens 

 united into five bundles at their insertion. The ovary is " gradual- 

 ly contracted into the stout style/' The capsule is ovoid and the 

 seeds are winged. Its distribution is from Maryland all along the 

 pine barrens of the Atlantic coast into the Gulf of Texas to the 

 mouths of the Mississippi. 



Sargent gives a line figure of it. 



Gordonia sinensis, Hemsley and E. H. Wilson, in Kew Bull. 

 1906, p. 153, is described by the authors as of Asiatic Gordonias 

 the most nearly allied to the American species. It has leaves with 

 veins prominent on both surfaces. The white flowers are described 

 as about 5 to 6.5 cm. in diameter. But its capsule is unknown. 

 The petiole is up to 1.5 cm. long. The stigma is said to be 

 " capitate." 



Mr. E. H. Wilson got it in the forests of Mt. Omi, Szechuen, 

 Western China. 



G. penangensis, Ridley, in Journ. Straits Branch, Eoy. 

 Asiatic Soc, No. 73, 1916, p. 142: G. excelsa, King, in Journ. 

 Asiatic Soc. Bengal, lix, 1890, p. 203, not of Blume. 



This species is noteworthy for the slenderness of its branch- 

 lets which so bend under the weight of the capsules as to make 



Jour. Straits Branch 



