312 



Contributions to Indian Botany. 



[April 



in temperate climates, and extending northwards to within a few de- 

 grees of perpetual snow. 



I was the more pleased with this discovery as it affords me the oppor- 

 tunity of commemorating in the annals of Botany the name of its finder, 

 who has been long an assiduous investigator of the rich flora of that 

 hitherto inadequately explored coast, and who is now the acknowleged 

 head of the Corps Botanique of Bombay : a gentleman, whose diligence 

 in collecting, is only equalled by his liberality in distributing the pro- 

 ceeds. "With his aid, and that of Mr. Graham, already favourably known 

 to the readers of this Journal by his catalogue of Bombay plants, I hope 

 to have many opportunities of enriching these contributions, and en- 

 larging the catalogue of Indian plants. 



Gen. character. — Cahjx four sepaled ; sepals cohering, not united to the 

 ovarium. Petals four, obovate entire, shortly unguiculate, attached to the 

 top of the calyx, and alternate with its lobes. Stamens 4, alternate with 

 the petals, attached to the middle of the tube of the calyx ; filaments de- 

 current. Anthers 2 celled dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary free, sub-pedi- 

 cellate, imperfectly 2 celled. Ovules numerous, attached to an erect cen- 

 tral placenta, adhering below to the inflexed margin of the valves, free 

 above. Style single, filiform. Stigma large, two lobed. Capsule free, 

 included within the persistent calyx, 2 valved, incompletely 2 celled, de- 

 hiscing transversely across the apex, many seeded. Seeds small oval, 

 testa transparent. Embryo central, the length of the seed, radicle point- 

 ing to the hilum. 



Plant herbaceous, glabrous, very ramous. Leaves coriaceous, alter- 

 nate, sessile, cordate at the base, lanceolate acute above, exstipulate. 

 Flowers small, red, congested in numerous clusters on the ends of the 

 branches, each bibracteate. Calyx and petals persistent, capsule in- 

 cluded, dividing the base of the style into two parts during dehiscence. 



N. fioribunda. R. "W. 



This genus, though agreeing in every particular with the character of 

 the order to which I have referred it, yet has not a single associate 

 with which I can compare it, or with which it can be confounded ; the 

 quaternary division of its parts, with its free shortly pedicellate ovary, 

 effectually separate it from every other genus of the order. Vahlia, 

 perhaps the most nearly allied genus, has the calyx cohering with the 

 ovary, and the placenta pendulous from the apex of the cell. Here 

 the case is exactly reversed, the ovary is free, and the placenta erect. 



