CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
47 
“ remarks ” above stated, I had an opportunity of examining the 
typical specimen in the Paris herbarium ; and though it has only 
male flowers, the parts accord so well with those of the Hetero- 
clinie<B, that, having regard also to the details given by Du Petit 
Thouars and Decaisne respecting the structure of the fruit and 
seed, I have no hesitation whatever in retaining the genus in the 
position I had long ago assigned to it. The careful examination 
of the specimen of another species in the British Museum has 
since confirmed this decision. The genus is certainly singular in 
having 3-foliolate leaves; but it must be remembered that through- 
out the family they are most frequently 3-nerved, and that the 
leaves of Jateorhiza and Cahjcocarpum ofiFer a near approach to 
those of Burasaia in being deeply 3-5-lobed : we know that similar 
grades of division are common in many families : it appears, in- 
deed, that in B. gracilis the terminal leaves are sometimes 3-lo- 
bate. The papillose viscous covering that enwraps the putamen is 
evidently analogous to the short tomentum imbedded in a pulpy 
mesocarp seen in Jateorhiza, Odontocarya, and Hamatocarpus, and 
the fleshy envelope in Anomospermum. The description given of 
the form of its embryo is precisely that found only in the Hetero- 
cliniece. From evidence collected from all sources, which appears 
to me undeniable, the following generic character has been formed. 
Burasaia, Thouars. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, ovalia, 
concava, 2-serialia, 3 exteriora minora. Petala 6, oblongo- 
ovata, breviter unguiculata, carnosa, 2-serialia, exteriora paulo 
majora, apice eroso-denticulata. Stamina 6, petalis opposita : 
filamenta carnosa, subbrevia, gradatim incrassata, apice geni- 
culato-clavata r antherce oblongse, introrsse, 2-lobas ; lobis ad- 
natis, imo paulo divaricatis et subimmersis, horizontalibus, 
rima lateral! utrinque dehiscentibus. Ovaria rudimentaria 
nulla. — Foem. (char, ex cl. Decne.) sepala et petala ut in masc. 
Stamina abort! va 6. Ovaria 3, gibbosa, 1-locularia, ovulu 
unico angulo ventral! appenso. Stigma sessile, truncatum. 
Drupa 3, carnosse, supra gynsecium auctum insitse, ovatse : 
putamen papillis tectum, mesocarpio viscoso indutum, ovatum, 
piano-con vexum, 1-loculare, condylo concavo in loculo pro- 
tenso : embryo intra albumen copiosum fere rectus ; cotyledoni- 
bus planis, foliaceis, in locellis distinctis divaricatis; radicula 
supera, stigma spectante. 
Frutices Madagascarienses, glabri, cortice rimoso ; folia longe pe- 
tiolata, palmatim S-foliolata, foliolis ovatis lanceolatisve, inte- 
gerrimis, coriaceis ; racemi pauci, axillares, fasciculati, floribus 
parvis, breviter pedicellatis. 
1. Burasaia Madagascariensis, Thouars, Gen. Nov. Madag. p. 1 8 ; 
