has been devoted to mark out their geographical distribu- 
tion; a subject interesting as a part of their history, and 
important as the probable means of arriving at the know- 
ledge of the general law which regulates that distribution. 
In justice to our readers, we shall extract the paragraph 
which relates to the group comprising the subject of the 
present article. 
“ Authors have generally been disposed to consider Prr- 
“rosporuM, Bursaria, and Biuiarpiera, as belonging to 
“ Rhamnece or Celastrine, from both of which they are 
* certainly .widely different; and they appear to me to 
“constitute, along with some Australian genera, a very 
“distinct natural family. Pit¢ospore form a small tribe, 
“ chiefly belonging to Terra Australis, where most of them 
-“ have been observed in the principal parallel; but certain 
“ species of all the published genera exist at the south end 
“of Van Diemen’s Island, and both Prrrosporum and 
« Bursaria are found within the tropic. Pirrosporum, the 
“ only genus of the order which is not confined to Terra 
* Australis, has the most extensive range in that country, 
“and has been found in many other parts of the world, 
“namely, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, the Society and 
“ Sandwich Islands, the Moluccas, in China, Japan, and 
«even Madeira. It has not, however, been observed in 
< any part of America.” ; 
The present species is native of New South Wales, and 
was introduced by Sir Joseph Banks; and altho’ present 
in our gardens in 1795, has been figured by Mr. Rudge in 
1811, from a dried stick, as the substitute of an erroneously 
supposed absentee. 
An upright shrub, about three or four feet high, scat- 
teredly branched; branches round, nearly leafless down- 
wards, leafy at the new shoots, where they are covered with 
a tomentose russet nap. Leaves scattered, obversely and 
oyally oblong, with a variously tapered point, sometimes 
abrupt and short, sometimes equably extended, all farther 
tapered towards the base, three or four inches long, an inch 
or an inch and half broad, above smooth and green; 
underneath, when full grown, grey and downy, when 
young, tomentose and russet' coloured, edge shallowly re- 
flectent. Flowers palish yellow, terminal, in a simple nod- 
diag raceme, sometimes scarcely extending beyond an um- 
bel-like corymb; peduncle round russet-coloured subvis- 
cidly tomentose, from one to two inches long or more, 
| 
4 
5 
j 
