4 WRIGHT : THÉ GENÜS DIOSPYROS 
regarded as a polypetalous group allied to the Anonaceæ, 
and the latter contending that they showed strong affinities 
to the Ternstrœmiaceæ. 
The technical value of the timber had also gained a high 
reputation, and many botanists discussed the origin of the 
term 44 ebony,” Bertolini* contending that the ebony of the 
ancients was not furnished by the Ebenaceæ. 
From the time of publication of the monograph by A. de 
Candolle in 1844 up to 1873 no work of great systematic 
importance was produced. In the meantime several species 
had been described or figured by Wight (1850), Dalzell 
(1852), Martins and Miguel (1856), Thwaites (1854-64), 
Beddome and Kurz (1871), Mueller and Bentham (1864-9), 
Oliver (1868-77), Eichler (1870-80), Bentham and Hooker 
(1872-3), and Grisebach in 1872. These, together with short 
accounts of the fossils, affinity, and the timbers, were all 
that appeared in the thirty years subsequent to the mono¬ 
graph by A. de Candolle. 
In 1873, however, Hiernt published his monograph, which 
is without question the most comprehensive work on the 
subject. This work is purely systematic, and deals with the 
characters of the floral and vegetative members, the distri¬ 
bution of the species, their probable affinity, and the several 
uses to which the parts of certain species are put. Hiern 
distinguishes five genera, two being endemic in Africa 
(Royena and Euclea), one (Tetraclis) in Madagascar, and the 
others (Maba and Diospyros) represented in many parts of 
the world. The genus Diospyros, as described by Hiern, 
contains 160 species, and is therefore by far the most im¬ 
portant in the order. With it Hiern has united the genera 
Cargillia, B. Br.; Leucoxylum, Blume ; Noltia, Schum.; and 
Gunisanthus and Rospidios, DC. The second largest genus— 
Maba—includes Macreightia, A. DC ., and Rhipidostigma, 
Dalz. The three remaining genera contain a total of 
* Bertolini, Miscellanea Botanica, XII., 1849. 
f W. P. Hiern, A Monograph of Ebenaceæ, Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 
Cambridge, 1873. 
