Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/410

 382 BOTANICAL NEWS.

memoirs in botany, the President's revision of the genus Cassia, and Dr. MasUrs's account of the Passijloracea. Mr. Benthani's paper, which was read to the Society more than two and a half years ago, gives descrijjtion' of no less than 338 species of Cassia, in spite of the reduc- tiou of a large number of names to synonyms. These are distributed under three subgenera well distinguished by their anthers and pods, Fistula, Snnia, and Lnsiorhcf/ma. There is a large instalment of new species, chiefly Brazilian. A very useful appendix — to be imitated, we hope, by all monographers — consists of lists of the Cassias in the chief published >els of plants, with references to their numbers. A sketch of the distribution of the genus over the globe, viewed from the Darwinian stand-point, is prefixed. Dr. Masters's paper is less occupied with technical (i( scriptions of species. The author has worked up the African and Ameiican species (the great bulk of the Order) for the second volume of the ' Flora of Tropical Africa,' just published, and the ' Flora Brasilieiisis.' Some additional ones are given in the present memoir. In our report of the reading of the paper (p. 24), we shortly alluded to the author's views as to the affinities of the Natural Order, which corre- sponds to the tribe Passiporere of the 'Genera Plantarum.' A complete catalogue of the genera (11) and species (225) of the group is given, but the paper is mainly composed of an account of the organography, mor- phology, and affinities of Passion-flowers, with interesting notes on their fertilization and distribution.

In ' Gardeners' Chronicle' for October 21 is a woodcut and description by Mr. Baker of an interesting new Saxifrage, of the Dactyloides group, called S. Maweana. It was discovered by Mr. George Maw, in the neighbourhood of Tetuan, two years ago, and introduced by him in a liviuj)- state to England, and was gathered again this year by that gentleuiati, in company with Dr. Hooker and Mr. Ball. It has flowers as large as S. granulate, and copious buds in the axils of the leaves, which are three-lobed only about halfway down. If it prove quite hardy, it is likely, from its fine flowers, to become a great favourite for rockwork.

On August 31st the Worcester Naturalists' Club made an excursion to Broadwas, and visited Knightwick. Near the church stands an Oak with Mistletoe growing on it, the only one known in Woi'cestershire, and making the thirteenth in England. The tree is of moderate size, and probably not more than one hunch'ed years old.

At a meeting of the Winchester and Hampshire Scientific Society on October 16th, the President, Rev. C. A. Johns, exhibited a specimen of Monzima polifolia, gathered by a lady at Bitterne, near Southampton. Mr. Johns had seen the plant growing, but did not venture to pronounce it indigenous on the waste ground where it occurred.

The third fasciculus of the Rev. J. E. Leefe's ' Salictura Exsiccatum' is all but completed, and the author is preparing the fourth fascicle.

We hear, through the 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' that Dr. Hooker has placed the Lichens collected during his Morocco expedition in the hands of the Rev. W. A. Leighton, for examination and determination.

The publication is announced of a new periodical devoted to Hor-

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