Notes . 
177 
THE AFFINITIES AND ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS 
OF PLAGIOPTERON FBAGRANS, Griff.— In the year 1844 
Griffith 1 published an account of a new genus of flowering plants, to 
which he gave the name Plagiopteron , this genus only including a 
single species, PL fragrans (— suaveolens ). Griffith did not attempt 
to assign any definite systematic position to this curious plant, 
although he considered it to be related to Malpighiaceae and Sapin- 
daceae. Walpers 2 describes it amongst the Sapindaceae, whilst in 
a foot-note he states his belief that it would be better placed amongst 
Malpighiaceae 3 . The first to place it amongst Tiliaceae were Ben- 
tham and Hooker 4 , who include it in the tribe Prockieae. Their 
example is followed to some extent by Warburg 5 , who however refers 
it to the order Elaeocarpaceae 6 of Schumann. The plant, that 
Griffith described, was growing in the gardens at Calcutta, but has 
since disappeared. The Kew Herbarium contains several specimens, 
collected by Griffith in Mergui, probably at some time after the date 
of the above-mentioned publication \ 
The resemblance in habit between Plagiopteron and certain species 
of Hiptage at the time of fruiting is certainly very striking, but the 
arrangement of the ovules in the former genus is not at all like that 
of Malpighiaceae. The Sapindaceae can scarcely come into con- 
sideration, for not alone have we the absence of any correspondence 
in number between the stamens and the floral envelopes, but most 
representatives of this order are characterized by the presence of short 
multicellular glands on the leaves, whereas Plagiopteron has no 
glandular hairs of any kind. 
In my opinion Plagiopteron is certainly a Tiliaceous plant, and 
inasmuch as all parts are covered with stellate hairs, it should cer- 
tainly be included in one of the tribes of the holopetalous Tiliaceae, 
which alone possess these hairs. Almost all the heteropetalous 
Tiliaceae (including the tribes Prockieae, Sloaneae and Elaeocarpeae) 
1 Calcutta Journal of Natural History, vol. iv, p. 244, Plate XIII. 
2 Repertorium Botanices Systematicae, v, p. 370. 
8 Cf. Kurz, Forest FI. Brit. Burm. i, p. 172. 
4 Genera Plantarum, vol. i, p. 238. 
6 Engler-Prantl, Naturl. Pflanzen'familien, iii. 6a, pp. 53, 55. 
6 Including the tribes Elaeocarpeae and Sloaneae of Bentham and Hooker ; the 
Prockieae were added later. 
N 
