190 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
caiTiosulis, aurantiacis, glabris, sepalisque mox deciduis ; 
ovario flavide tomentoso ; stylo subulate, ad medium piloso ; 
capsula ovato-globosa, majuscula, grosse buUata, tomentosa, 
4-5-sulcata, 4-5-loculari, apice breviter loculicide dehis- 
cente ; seminibus in loculis 3 vel 4, majusculis ; testa Crus- 
tacea. — In Chile prov. Valdivia et in insula Chiloe : v. s. in 
herh. meo^ Mus. Brit., et Hook., Valdivia (Bridges, 613) ; 
Chiloe (Capt. King; Cuming, 22). 
An evergreen tree, 8-16 feet high, with a trunk 8 inches 
in diameter : leaves l|-4 inches long, 5-12 lines broad, on a 
petiole 1^-2 lines long ; peduncle Ij-lf inch long, gradu- 
ally thickening to the summit ; sepals 4 lines long, 3 lines 
broad, free and attached to the margin of the thickened apex 
of the peduncle, each with seven parallel nervures ; petals 
9-11 lines long, 4-5 lines broad, including the inflected 
margins, with three apical teeth 1 line long, glabrous ; co- 
lumnar disk 1 line high, 2 lines in diam., glabrous ; filaments 
3 lines, anthers 5 lines long, scabridly rugulose ; ovary 3 lines 
long, 2 lines broad ; style 4-7 lines long ; capsule 8-10 lines 
in diameter ; seeds at least 2 lines in diameter, attached to the 
central column*. 
Observations on some of the Heliotropie^. 
In the ‘ Prodromns ’ of De Candolle we find the order Borru- 
(jineoi divided into four distinct tribes, the Cordiece, Ehretiece, 
Heliotrojnece, and Borragece. Long before the appearance, 
of that work, the late Mr. R. Brown had pointed out, in his 
‘ Prodromns,’ p. 492, that the Cordiece ought to be held as a 
distinct family, on account of their 4-fid style, and their seeds 
without albumen, with plicated cotyledons — an opinion sup- 
ported by Endlicher and Bindley for reasons which appear 
sufficiently valid. Von Martins rightly held that the perfectly 
gynobasic style, placed in the middle of four distinct ovaries, 
entitled the Borragece to rank as a separate natural order, and 
accordingly he combined the two remaining tribes of DeCan- 
dolle, the Ehretiece and Heliotropiece, in another family, which 
he designated with the name of Ehretiacece. The uncertainty 
and confusion in the distribution of the speeies in these several 
groups have in great measure arisen from a neglect to examine 
the structure of the fruits ; it may, however, be taken as a rule 
that among the Avhole of them it is essential that the seeds 
should be suspended and solitary in their respective cells, with 
* A representation of this plant, with particulars of its floral structure, 
is seen in Plate 83 A. 
