130 
ROYAL HORTICULTCRAL SOCIETY. 
natmg characters. While admitting the accuracy of their 
observations on particular specimens, I may remark that 
there are so many transitional and intermediate forms con- 
necting the extremes, that it appears to me preferable, on 
scientific grounds, to treat the species in a broad comprehen- 
sive way. To follow the opposite course would almost 
necessitate the considering of every specimen in the herbaria 
or in gardens as a distinct species. The botanists in question 
lay great stress on the presence or absence of pubescence 
on the ovary and fruit respectively ; but from my examina- 
tion of the herbarium specimens, and of numerous culti- 
vated forms, I can by no means attach so much importance 
to this character as they do. 
Var. 1. GOSSYPIIFOLIA. 
F. gossypiifolia, Desv., Link & Otto, Ic. PI. Rar. Hort. 
Berol., t. 46 ; Bot. Reg., 1634 ; Bot. Mag., t. 2619. 
F. faetida^ Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 725, not of Linn. 
P. obscura^ Lindl., in Trans. Hort. Soc, vii., i. 
P. Jiihiscifolia, DC. Prodr., iii., 331, not of Lam. 
P. fcetida^ var. gossypiifolia, Triana & Planch., I.e., 
170. 
Var. 2. HiRSUTA, Lodd., Bot. Cab., t. 138. 
P. Baraquiniana^ Lemaire, 111. Hort., vii., t. 276. 
? P. hispida^ DC. MS., ex. Triana & Planch., I.e., 
172. 
Var. 3. NIGELLIFLOEA. 
P. 7iigelUflora^ Hook., Bot. Mag., t. 3635. 
Var. 4. OTLiATA. 
P. ciliata, Alton, Hort. Kew., iii., 310 ; Bot. Mag., t. 
288, 
P. hihiscifolia, Lam., not DC, Triana & Planch., I.e., 
172. 
P. hirsuta, Jacq., Eclog., 123. 
Section 3. DECALOBA. — Bracts minute, scattered. Flowers 
with petals. 
7. P. sexfiora, Juss,, in Ann. Mus., vi., t. 37, f. 1 ; Mast., in 
Flor. Bras., I.e., 548. 
P. florihunda^ Leniaire, Flore des Serres, iv., p. 335 b. 
West Indies, Mexico. 
8. P. auricTiIat^, H.B.K., I^ov. Gen. et Sp., ii., 131 ; Mast., 
in Flor. Brasil., l.c , 585. 
