NOTE ON VAVJEA AND RHYTIDANDRA. 
331 
bergia , &c. ; and in Mallea * it is as completely adnate as in Vavcea, while the 
andrcecium is as deeply divided. The only remaining peculiarity, that of the 
increased number of stamens, is now found not to be a constant one, nor is it 
wholly irreducible to the type of the Meliaceous androecium, whatever particular 
hypothesis may be adopted in respect to the nature of its interposed lobes or naked 
teeth. 
Although no doubt remains that Vavcea is a truly Meliaceous genus, f it is by no 
means surprising that Mr. Rich, without investigating the ovules and seeds, should 
have even referred these diplosteinonous specimens to Styrax. The floral envelopes 
equally vary from four to seven in both, even in the same species ; the general confor- 
mation of the pistil is similar ; the uniserial stamens, monadelphous below, and even 
the beard on the inner face of the filaments, are equally points of resemblance ; while 
the freedom of the andrcecium from the corolla, both organs being hypogynous, has 
its counterpart in Sty rax Benzoin and some other species.! 
* Adr. Jussieu, Mem. Meliac. t. 15, f. 6, and t. 17, 18, &c. 
f The completed character of the genus is subjoined : — ■ ■ 
VAVAEA, Benth. 
Calyx 4-7-fidus, persistens; lobis triangulari-ovatis mstivatione leviter imbricatis. Petala lobis calycis nu- 
mero asqualia, hypogyna, ligulato-oblonga, utrinque sericeo-puberula, sestivatione convoluto-imbricata, deci- 
dua. Stamina numero petalorum dupla vel scepius tripla aut subtripla, ab iis libera : filamenta plana, linearia, 
basi glabra in tubum disco hypogyno cupuliformi tenui adnatum monadelpha, superne libera, intus barbato- 
villosissima, apice acuto antheram bilocularem (loculis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus) introrsam fere basifixam 
gerentia. Pollen globosum. Ovarium ovoideum, basi lata sessile, 3 - 4-loculare : stylus columnaris : stigma 
peltatum, 3- 4-radiatum. Ovula in loculis gemina, angulo centrali prope basim inserta, collateralia, adscen- 
dentia, subamphitropa ; micropyle supera. Bacca globosa, 3 — 4-locularis. Semina in loculis abortu solitaria 
rariusve bina, ovalia, adscendentia, exarillata ; testa lsevi chartacea ; hilo lineari chalazse magnse basilari prox- 
imo ; rhaphe brevissima. Albumen nullum. Cotyledones carnosae, plano-convexse, suborbiculares, sinu 
profundo cordatse, radiculam gracilem superam prorsus includentes. — Arbuscula glabella; foliis simplicibus 
integerrimis alternis obovato-oblongis obsoletissime punctatis ; stipulis nullis ; pedunculis axillaribus multi- 
floris ; floribus cymosis parvulis (forte polygamis). 
Vavcza, Benth. in Lond. Jour. Bot. 2. p. 212 ; Gray, Bot. Phanerog. U. S. Expl. Exped. 1. p. 244, t. 16. 
| Endlicher (Gen. p. 743), following Jussieu, assigns to Styrax a free calyx and a perigynous corolla ; — 
two characters which I have not found to coexist in this genus. Alph. De Candolle, following Richard (in 
Michaux, FI. 2. p. 41), describes the base of the calyx-tube as adherent to the base of the ovary, which is 
the case in the North American species, and most others. Zuccarini (FI. Japon. 1. p. 54, t. 23), indeed, de- 
- scribes and figures S. Japonicum , a species of the same group as the North American ones, with both the 
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