Page:Appendix to the first twenty-three volumes of Edwards's Botanical Register.djvu/52

 xlii fruit, petals similar in form, stamens twice the number of the petals, definite pendulous ovules, and four distinct styles; but it differs from Cercodea and Haloragis in the ovary being one-celled in its original structure, and in the æstivation of the corolla being imbricated, not valvate. It is probable that the fruit, when it shall be known, will incline the scale of comparison in favour of Halorageæ; but in the meanwhile this brief discussion sufficiently shews the near relationship that exists beween Quinchamalium, Combretaceæ, and Halorageæ, notwithstanding the distance at which the former and two latter are placed in the artificial divisions of the Natural System. I propose to name this very curious and interesting genus Loudonia, 194 as a tribute to the eminent services rendered to Horticultural Botany by John Claudius Loudon, Esq. author of the Arboretum Britannicum, and of many other valuable works well known in every part of the civilized world. Haloragis cordigera, Fenzl, and probably H. scoparia of the same author, the former of which has two pairs of ovules hanging down from the apex of a single cell in the ovary, and separated, as in the plant under consideration, by a pendulous cord originating between them, may possibly also belong to Loudonia; they certainly have no title to be included in Haloragis. The following cut, which represents Loudonia aurea in flower, will I trust be the means of procuring it for our gardens, or at all events of securing an abundant supply of dried specimens both in flower and fruit for the use of Botanists.

(194) (Halorageæ?). Calyx 4-dentatus, superus, tubo tetraptero, a latere verrucoso. Petala 4, cucullata, æstivatione imbricata. Stamina 8, antheris linearibus. Discus 0. Ovarium 1-loculare: ovulis 2, pendulis, anatropis, filo ab apice loculi oriundo sejunctis; styli 4; stigmata rotundata, discolora, lævia.  Loudonia aurea. Glaberrima; caule erecto, tereti, sesquipedali, simplici, glauco, discolore, basi foliato, apice nunc aphyllo. Folia linearia, alterna, coriacea integerrima. Panicula terminalis corymbosa. Bracteæ superiores petaloideæ, obovatæ, floribus aureis æquales, primariæ foliaceæ aut deficientes.