126 
COXTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
The Schizandracece by some botanists are held to be merely a 
tribe of the Magnoliacece •, but I have pointed out many of the 
characters that keep them distinct from the latter, and that place 
them in contiguity with the J Vinter acea. It is not possible, in 
any linear arrangement, to form so perfect an approximation of 
genera as by the circular system ; but the nearest conformity is 
obtained by interposing the Menispermacece and Lardizabalacece 
between the Anonacece and Magnoliacea, and by the inters^ention 
of Schizandracece between the last-mentioned family and the 
IVinteracece and Canellacece ; by this disposition we form a chain 
of regular gradation, the links of which sufficiently harmonize 
together. Keeping thus the Winteracece in the relation best 
adapted to them, after all the other families of the Pulycarpicce, 
and placing the Canellacece at the head of the Rhceades, to which 
class, from their carpellary structure, they must belong, we thus 
maintain uniformity in the systematic arrangement, without 
disturbing the chain of linear gradation that naturally exists 
between these families. 
The genera of the Winteracece have a wide geographical range. 
Drimys is distributed over all equinoctial South America, Mexico, 
the more temperate regions of Chile, the Strait of Magellan, and 
New Zealand. Tasmannia is met with in Australasia and Borneo, 
while Illicium is found in tropical Asia, Japan, and North Ame- 
I'lca ; and the coincidence may be remarked, that the Schizan- 
dracece exist only in the last-mentioned three distant regions. 
Canella has hitherto been met with only in the Antilles and the 
northernmost point of the South American continent, while Cin- 
namodendron is found on the very margin of the southern tropic 
of Brazil, as well as in the West Indies. The Magnoliacece are 
natives of many pai’ts of India, of tropical South America, and 
the United States; and I believe there is no instance of the 
occurrence of any of the above-mentioned families in the conti- 
nents of Europe and Africa. The Lardizabalacece, however, are 
found in the tropical parts of Africa and Asia, and also in extra- 
tropical South America; while the Menispermacece have a general 
cosmopolitan distribution. 
I will now proceed to offer a few remarks upon the several 
genera of the Winteracece, and give an amended character of 
eaeh, as far as my own observations extend. 
• 1. Dkimys. 
This genus has been described by several botanists, more 
particularly by St. Hilaire, who enters into many details of its 
structure*. One of its peculiar features is in its calyx, which, 
* PL Usuelles, 5. pi. 26-28. 
