60 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
The fact is worth recording, as it offers another coineidence in 
the resemblance of the male flowers of some EuphorbiacecB 
to those of Menispermacea, as St. Hilaire long before pointed 
out in the case of some species of Phijllanthus. The authors of 
the ‘Flora Indica’ (p. 171) have made some valuable observa- 
tions, showing several points of resemblance in the floral struc- 
ture of these two families; and the case above cited affords a 
strong proof of the truth of their remarks. The authors of the 
new ‘ Genera Plantarum,’ in excluding Odontocarya from the 
order, and referring it to Euphorbiacea, probably had the cir- 
cumstance above mentioned in their recollection ; but they for- 
got at the same time that the genus maintains its ground upon 
the unquestionable organization of its seed, upon the habit of 
the plant, and upon the strueture of its wood. The chief pecu- 
liarity of the genus consists in its putamen, which has a scuti- 
form condyle as in Calycocarpum, Aspidocarya, Jateorhiza, Para- 
bcena, and Rhigiocarya, and it is covered with a matted, short, 
papillose coating, imbedded in the fleshy pulp of its mesocarp, 
as in Jateorhiza, Burasaia, and Hcematocarpus. Most of the 
species resemble Tinospora in their habit and in their cordate, 
glabrous, membranaceous leaves upon long petioles ; the inflo- 
rescence is in slender racemes, longer than the petiole; the 
fructiferous rat-cmes are somewhat longer, and, in the typical 
species, bear drupes of the size and colour of grapes, enclosing 
an osseous putamen, with three teeth at each extremity (whence 
the generic name) ; in the structure of its seed it eorresponds with 
the rest of the Heterocliniece. Belonging to this genus there is 
a group of plants which I formerly referred to Chondodendron, 
R. & P. (Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 2. vii. 44), in consequence of their 
resemblance to Pdppig^s drawing of his Chondodendron convolvu- 
laceum; but when I met with the typical species of that genus, 
collected by Pavon, I saw at once the error. Subsequently I was 
able to identify the group alluded to with Odontocarya, from 
specimens in flower and fruit from Panama : these are all slen- 
derer plants, with smaller leaves than those of my typical species ; 
but they all possess the same habit and a similar floral and 
seminal structure. 
Odontocarya, nob. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 9, quorum 
3 exteriora dimidio minora, angustiora, et bracteiformia, 6 in- 
teriora majora, 2-serialia, jequalia, cuneato-oblonga, tenuiter 
membranacea, nervosa, sestivatione valde imbricata. PetalaQ, 
subaequalia, sepalis opposita et iis paulo minora, ovata, tenuiter 
membranacea. Stamina 6, petalis opposita, iis aequilonga, imo 
in columnam brevem coalita, superne libera; filamenta latius- 
cula, complanata, tenuiter membranacea, apice rotundata. 
