Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/355

ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY.

177 served — He says, " Obs. Sclirebera stamina apud Schreb. (gen. 446) et Jiiss. I. c. (gen. plant) decuntur basi int'us squamulis minutis ciliatis prcedita, quartern vero nulla facta est mentio in char-generico apitd. W aiad Arn." The error here is, in supposing the Sclirebera of Linnaeus and Retz the same— the Lknasan plant to which the squamulis minutis ciliatis belongs, is a species of Cusuita— and the Linnaean S. schinoides was Cuscuta Africana growing on a Myrica. In the Sclirebera of Retz no such character exists, and as already remarked, I think it an unnecessary genus, and regret to see it taken up anew, by so excellent a Botanist as M eisner, in a work so likely from its general accuracy to have an extensive circulation and to be looked up to as one of considerable authority.

The genus Lophopelalum is characterized by having a 5-lobed calyx : 5 petals, each fur- nished with a crest, inserted under the margin of the torus : 5 stamens inserted on the surface of the disk; a broad 5-lobed disk covering the whole hollow of the calyx, the lobes opposite, cover- ing, and adnate with the base of the petals, and a 3-celled superior ovary with two rows of ascend- ing collateral ovules in each cell.

This genus is exactly intermediate between Celastrus and Euonymus, having the 3-celled ovary and quinary petals of the former combined with the insertion of the stamens on the face of the disk the cymose inflorescence and opposite leaves of the latter. It differs from Celastrus in habit and in the insertion of its stamens ; and from Euonymus in the unequal number of the cells of its ovary and petals, and in the cells being polysporous. Adopting these last as the essential characters of the genus, the crested petals, from which it takes its name, and the lobed disk may be viewed as characters of secondary importance, and thus a thiid species, of which 1 have specimens, partaking of the essential characters but wanting the others, might be introduced. Dr. Arnott proposes to add as a fourth species Wallich's Euonymvs grandifforus, which I cannot adopt, owing to its having 4 petals, 4 stamens, and a 4-celied ovary, thus virtually destroying what I consider the essential character of the genus, namely, the inequality existing between the floral envelopes and cells of the ovary. That plant ought perhaps to form the type of a genus, distinct from Euonymus, depending on its numerous ovules and seed but ought not to be allowed to mar the uniformity of this, by combining under one name, plants having symmetrical and insymmetrical flowers.

The genus Euonymus though not very extensive will I suspect require revision, but this cannot be undertaken until we are better acquainted with the fruit. Some new species of it are found on the Neilgherries of which I have specimens communicated by Mr. Gough, an enter- prising young Botanist, who explored much of these elevated regions, but who is, unhappily for science, forced by bad health to leave the scene of his usefulness. Two of these can be readily defined, the rest cannot be satisfactorily made out and must be left for future investigation, since, it is worse than useless to name plants which we have not the means of describing with sufficient precision to admit of their being afterwards recognized from the description.

Judging from a solitary not very perfect specimen in my herbarium of the Eu.fimbriatus Wall, a native of the Himalayas, communicated by the late Countess of Dalhousie, it appears, that that species belongs to the genus Pterocelastrus of Meisner, one hitherto only found at the Cape. My specimen is not in fruit, but the ovaries, shortly after the fall of the flowers, show the wings of the carpels already well formed. The specimen is from Masoori, and has much the habit of an Euonymus. This plant along E. japonicus. equally a native of Nepaul and Japan, adds another to the, already existing, numerous links, between the floras of these remote countries.

Calyx scutelliform, 5-lobed, lobes rounded, short. Petals 5, sessile, orbiculate, expanding, usually, fur- nished with a crest, and covered near the base with the projecting lobes of the disk. Torus discoid, 5-lobed, or angled, thick, fleshy, covering the whole cavity of the calyx, the lobes adnate to the base of the petals. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals, inserted on the disk, anthers versatile, ovate, 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally, ovary free, 3-celled, ovules in a double series, 4-12, in each cell, ascending, style short, persistent, stigma obtuse, capsule —, seed —.

Glabrous trees, or shrubs, leaves opposite, petioled. Flowers numerous, on large spreading terminal cymes: Petals sometimes without a crest and the disk not lobed.

In the construction of this character, which is consi- derably altered from that published in the Icones 1 have availed myself both of a more extended acquaintance with the order, derived from recent study, and of Dr. Anion's character, which reached me as this article was passing through the press, to improve it to the ut- most, and at the same time, so to fix its limits as to prevent them interfeiiBg with those of Euonymus, which