392 
Prain . — -The Mercurialineae and 
treated Paradenocline as part of Adenocline ; like Baillon also, he replaced 
the genus in the sub-tribe Acalypheae, between Leidesia and Seidelia. In 
this Bentham has been followed by Pax, who has placed Adenocline between 
Erythrococca and Mercurialis } It is, however, doubtful whether Para- 
denocline ought not to be given a generic status ; there is no doubt that it 
deserves at least sectional rank, and that its unqualified inclusion in Adeno- 
cline is hardly justified. There is no question that any reversion to the view 
of Baillon that Adenocline is closely related to Mercurialis is a retrograde 
step. Probably the disregard which recent authors have shown for Muller’s 
facts is traceable to the effect of Muller’s conclusion. In transferring 
Adenocline and P ar adenocline to the Hippomaneae, Muller has shown 
almost as little consideration for the natural characters of his group as did 
those authors who have held that Adenocline is a part of, or is allied to, the 
genus Mercurialis . But the fact that Muller did not happen to suggest the 
most suitable position for the Adenoclineae is no excuse for a reversion to 
a view which Muller had shown to be erroneous, and affords no justification 
for the suppression of this natural group. The Adenoclineae of Muller 
agree so absolutely with the Gelonieae as defined by Bentham (Gen. PL, 
iii. 253) that their natural situation is not really a matter for debate. 
Little difficulty is experienced in separating the species that are to be 
met with in Adenocline proper. Among the seven species included, one, 
A. acuta , Bailk, is at once distinguished from the other six by having 
opposite leaves. Among the remaining six, one, A. stricta , Prain, has all 
the leaves sessile, and has large leafy stipules. The other five have at least 
the lowest leaves distinctly petioled. Two of the five have the upper leaves 
also petioled ; they are A. ovalifolia , Turcz., with leafy stipules, and 
A. humilis , Turcz., with minute stipules. Of the three that remain, two, 
A. sessilifolia , Turcz., and A. Zeyheri , Prain, have the lower petioled leaves 
narrow-lanceolate; they are distinguished from each other because in 
A. sessifolia the upper sessile leaves are entire, in A. Zeyheri they are serrate. 
In the last species of our list, A. bupleuroides , Prain, at least the lowest and 
petiolate leaves, sometimes even the upper sessile leaves also, are wide-ovate 
or orbicular. Simple, however, as the task of discrimination is, there have 
been difficulties, largely of a bibliographical nature, in accounting for 
certain names, and in one case, that of A. Zeyheri , some real difficulty has 
been met with in dealing with the actual specimens. 
In 1843 Turczaninow enumerated five species, two with opposite leaves, 
A. Mercurialis (Drege 2301, male) and A. pauciflora (Drege 3441, both 
male and female) ; three with alternate leaves, A. ovalifolia (an unnumbered 
1 For some reason Bentham has stated, and Pax has accepted the statement, that Adenocline is 
a monoecious genus. One of the most characteristic features of Adenocline proper is that all the 
species are strictly dioecious. Paradenocline is monoecious, but this is one of the circumstances which 
renders its separate recognition, at least as a section, desirable. 
