224 



DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



Suriana (No. 1). A shrub, four to six feet high; very soft pubescence ; four or five dis- 

 tinct carpels. Abundant. 



(Meridiana lutea; No. 1); Portulaca, Forst. Obs. 443. Full of branches, upright, four 

 to eight inches high ; leaves opposite, short-petioled, very thick, succulent; two sepals J 

 flowers one-third of an inch in diameter, terminal, solitary or sometimes in pairs ; petals 

 four ; stamens numerous ; six or more stigmas. 



Scsevola (Koenigii ; No. 1). A shrub; the ripe berry white. Very abundant. 



Tournefortia (argentea ; No. 1). A shrub, eight or ten feet high ; berries single. 



(Pentacarya anomala; No. 1); Myosotis-like. Only one to two inches high; leaves 

 crowded, linear, and obtuse ; some indications of flowers, disposed apparently in a 

 peduncled cyme. 



(Calpidia?, No. 1). A single distant tree, twenty feet high; the leaves, as seen through 

 the glass, appeared to be oblong and penninerved ? 



Boerhaavia (No. 1). Herbaceous, one to two feet long ; leaves broad and obtuse ; corolla 

 one-eighth of an inch, purple. 



Cassyta (No. 1) ; calyx-persistent, with three large outer segments and three small inner 

 ones ; the fruit a berry. One specimen at least having leaves, which are linear-obtuse 

 and much resemble those of Suriana. (Both Mr. Brackenridge and myself remain under 

 the impression, that we found leaves on the Cassyta at Clermont-Tonnerre ; we often 

 searched for them afterwards throughout the islands of the Pacific and the East Indies, 

 but invariably without success; my own impression is, that the leaves were opposite; 

 but as the specimen cannot be found, I can only commend the subject to future 

 observers). 



Achyranthes (No. 1). Two feet high; woolly, with pink florets. 



Urtica ? (No. 1). Only three or four inches high ; suff"ruticose at base j leaves smooth, 



tenderly-herbaceous, ovate and crenate. Rare. 

 (Lepturus ?, No. 1). Gram. ; six to nine inches high, branching ; not in flower. Growing 



in tufts. 



Borrera ? (No. 1 ) ; a small species. Frequent on the dead branches of shrubs. 

 Parmelia ? (No. 1). Diminutive, closely appressed in interstices left by the preceding 

 lichen on dead branches; the fructification not seen. 



2. Serle coral-island. During the evening of the 15th, the Vin- 

 cennes left Clermont-Tonnerre, sailing West by North ; and at 10 

 A.M. on the 16th, we again saw tree-tops rising into view at intervals, 

 from the alternating swell of the ocean ; in short, a repetition of the 

 above-described approach to a low coral-island ; scenes with which 

 we were destined to become familiar. 



Serle coral-island proved to be " about thirty-two miles from Cler- 

 mont Tonnerre ;" from which it may be distinguished by a conspicu- 

 ous cluster of trees at the Southeast, and another at the Northwest 

 end, and hy some of the islets in the lagoon being crowned with vege- 

 table growth. We did not land ; our plans being disconcerted by an 

 accident which caused delay. Lieut. Alden approaching the shore in 



