TO DR. R. WIGHT. 



xxxix 



Botanical Garden, October 20th, 1843. 



1 have received your letters, and the packet of Brachylepis etc, 

 for which best thanks. The Di-yptopetalum ? is a singular plant. 

 It can scarcely be any thing connected with Rhizophoreae, owing to 

 the superior ovarium, neither has it the habit. Can it be Cuno- 

 niaceous ? ; but it is unlike any I know. Its habit is rather that of 

 some Guttiferse, but who shall decide on such an odd fellow, have 

 you never seen the male organs ? 



The other which you say is apparently a Thymeleous genus, is an 

 old friend of mine, and one of the most remarkable of known plants. 

 It is Arnott's Mackaya, my Modeccopsis Mss. The flower is entirely 

 Santalaceous. The ovarium and ovula Thymeleous (except indeed 

 the inferiority of the former.) Very remarkable changes take place 

 during fecundation, of which I have only had an imperfect glimpse. 

 Then the fruit is, I fancy, the only instance of a Drupaceus fructus, 

 in which the epicarp separates into 5 valves, and the putamen drops 

 out, simulating in all respects a seed. I have met with it, or another 

 species, in Assam, Mergue, and Malacca. I only lately ascertained it 

 to be Arnott's Mackaya. 



I have selected out your Cyrthandracea, and some Ericinea?, and 

 with them I will send Myriopteron, Plagiopteron, Siphonodon, Givotia, 

 Excsecaria oppositifolia, I know nothing of the names of the Cyrt- 

 handracese or Ericinese, but as they are in families, this is not of 

 much consequence. 1 am getting my Harbarium into order, then I 

 will attack the Malacca plants, of which you will get a full set. What 

 interesting things the collection contains ! 



I send all home, all the Duplicates of my general collections to 

 my friend Lemann, keeping sufficient with me, to illustrate generally 

 and locally. What a host of Ferns and Grasses ! 



The Myriopteron specimens are only in fruit, the collectors having 

 neglected to dry flowery specimens. It is essentially Periplaeceous, 

 like Cryptostigia and Cryptolepis, in not having the pollen grains 

 cohering into massules. These descriptions are mere sketches and 

 imperfect ones too, as I have no time to make general structure bear 

 on each. The Excaecaria oppositifolia is doubtless a distinct genus, 

 but the whole family wants remodelling. The sectional charac- 

 ters are now very defective, and partake largely of the Linnean 

 leaven, single and arbitrary. 



