Stems 2 feet high, branched, covered, as weU as the leaves snore or less on both surfaces, ivith soft steUate hairs
and pubescence. Leaves petiolate, orbicidar, five- to se\-eu-lobed, margins ii-regularly toothed or crenate,.14-4t
inches broad. Flowers pedieelled, solitaiy or fascicled, white or pink, 1 4 -2 inches in diameter. Involucre three-
lobed, ovate, acute, aud as weU as the flve-lobed calyx enlarging after flowering, and hence varying much in
relative size aud form. Petals broadly obeuneate, deeply notched, with sharp lobes. Carpels six to eight, udtli a
fiat doi-sum and sharp angled sides, wiinkled.— 5Iy specimens seem identical with the figure in the ‘ Botanical
Magazine,’ but are more tomentose than tbe description ; tliis however is a very variable character, and cultivated
plauts are often more glabrous tban the wild state. I bad, in tbe ‘ Journal o f B otany,’ made var. ß toinaiiosa of tbe
Tasmanian specimens ; but at that time I did not entertain the opinion I now do as to the impropriety o f treating
tlie cultivated plant as the tipiical form, and describing tbe wild state from wbich it deviated as a variety of it.
According to Sims, Mr. Brown considered bis south coast specimens to be specificaUy distinct from the one then
cultivated, the seeds of which were brought from the westward o f the Blue Mountains, but I am imable to distinguish
Gunn’s plant from Sims’ figure.
G en. I I . L AW E E K C IA , Hook.
Involuce llum 0. C a lyx subinflatus, 5-fidus. Corolla 5-loba, cum tubo stamineo cohærens, calyce
A n th e r a S - 1 2 . C arpella 5 , 1 -2 -o v u la ta ; s ty lis totidem, filiformibus. Fru c tu s 3 -5 - c o c c u s ;
coccis 1 -2 -sp e rm is .— H erbæ ro bu sta v . suffrutices; floribus a x illa r ib u s sp ica tisv e , v iHdibus, bracieatis.
A very remarkable genus, unlike its allies in habit and texture, and confined to Southern and W estern Australia
and i'asmania. Three or four species are knoivn, belonging to two sections ; one section including the Swan River
L . glö)nerata. Hook., and Tasmanian L. spicata. Hook., has glabrous herbaceous stems, densely spiked or axillary
solitarj' flowers, and one-ovuled carpels; the other {Halothamnos, F. Müller, consisting o f natives o f Southeastern
and South-western Austraba) has shrubby stems, scaly fobage, axillary crowded flowers, and one or two
ovules. Asa Gray (Bot. U . S. Expl. Exp. 180 in note) proposes to alter this name (by an anagram) to Wrencialia,
because o f its being too near Laurencia, a genus o f A lg a . {Lawrencia was named in honom- o f William Lawrence,
Esq., o f Tasmania, one o f tbe earbest and most successful explorers of the Colonial Flora.)
1 . L aw re n c ia s p ic a ta (H o ok . I c . PL t . 2 6 1 , 2 6 2 ) ; glaberrima, herbácea, caulibus simplicibus erectis,
fo liis ovali-spathulatis inæqualiter serratis inferioribus lo n g e petiolatis, floribus sessilibus in spicam longam
densam bracteatam arctissime con ge stis.— L o n d . Journ. B o t. ii. 4 1 3 ; Ne es v . Esenheck in F ia n t. F re iss.
x i. 2 3 5 . {Gunn, 7 4 6 .)
H a b . Flinders’ Islan d , Bass’ Straits, Gunn. Kelvedon, Great Swan P o r t, Backhouse.— (EL D e c .)
Distkib. Southern and W e ste rn Australia, from P o r t Eairy to Swan R iv e r ; Sydney?
A stout fleshy herb, with simple stems, 1 - 2 feet high, as thick as the thumb and woody at the base.— Radical
leaves 1 inch long, on petioles 1 -3 inches long, elbptical, coarsely irregularly serrate ; upper naiTower, more sessile.
Stipules minute, subulate. Flowers green, the lower sessile in the axils of bracteal leaves, the upper crowded into
an elongated green cybndrical spike 4 -1 0 inches long, hidden by the lanceolate bracteal leaves, and subtended by
a trifid bract. Calyx shorter than the bract, inflated, five-lobed above the middle. Petals inserted below the
middle o f the staminal tube, lanceolate, with obbquely bifid or truncate apices, shorter than the calyx. Anthers
large, on short filaments at the apex o f the tube. Ovaries one-ovuled, with long free styles, dilated into linear flat
stigmata, papülose on the inner surface. Carpe?« rather membranous. Zbeia m inutely canceUate. scanty,
fleshy. Embryo bent at an angle; radicle terete; cotyledons convolute.— Mr. Gunn informs me that the Port
Arthur station formerly assigned to this plant by him (Lond. Joum. Bot.) is doubtful.
Gen. I I I . P L A G IA N T H U S , Forst.
Flores polygamo-dioici. C alyx campanulatus, 5 -lob u s, valvatus. F e ta la 5 , basi in tubum
S tam in a plurima; fllam e n tis liberis v. basi in tubum apice pentadelpbum co a litis; a n th e ris 2-lobis, 1 -locu-
laribus. Ovarium 1 -5 -lo cu la r e ; ovulis solitar iis; s ty lis 1 - 5 , basi coalitis, stigmatibus obtusis intus g la n dulosis.
Capsula 1 -3 - c o c c a ; coccis irregulariter dehiscentibus, 1-spermis. Semen pendulum. Embryo
curvatus.— Erutices v . arbusculæ stellato-pubescentes, in te rdum d io ic i ; coxúce ien a c i ; fo liis a lte rn is , stipulis
p a r v is .— Asterotriclium, K lo tzsch . Blepbaranthemum, F n d l. Sidæ sp ., Ro o k . etc.
A small genus, confined to New Zealand, South Australia, and Tasmania, very nearly aUied to Sida, but differing
in the form of the carpels and stigmata, as also in the anthers being incompletely two-cebed, on which latter
account it is placed in another Natural Order ; there is indeed an imperfect dissepiment between the ceUs of the
anther in several species, which is tom at a considerable period before the dehiscence of the lobes.— Shrubs with
tough bark and stellate pubescence, sometimes dioecious. Flowers in axibary racemes, rarely sobtaiy, white. Cahj.c
five-lobed. Corolla membranous, very sinab in the female flowers of some species. Petals five, obbque, united at
the base into a tube, that carries the staminal column. Stamens numerous ; fllaments united below, free above, or
pentadelphous. Ovamj of one to five caipels ; styles united below, free above, with a blimt and dilated stigma.
Capeide o f as many one-seeded cocci, generaUy bursting irregularly, and separating from a central column. (Name
from nKayios, oblique; in allusion to the unequal-sided petals.)
1 . Plagianthus pxdchellus (A. Gray, in B o t. U . S . Exp l. T o y . i. 1 8 1 ) ; ramulis foliisque subtus
stellatim pubescentibus glabratisve, foliis lon g e petiolatis an gu ste ovato-cordatis basi profunde bilobis
in teg ris v. obscui-e trilobis grosse crenatis, floribus masc. racemosis, foemin. dense con ge stis, carpellis 4 - 5
d eciduis.— Sida pulchella, B on p l. in B C . F ro d r. i. 4 6 0 ; R ook. Journ. B o t. i. 2 5 0 , ii. 4 1 2 . {Gunn, 1 7 3 .)
Ta r. /9 ; tomentosa, calyce molliter stellato-pubescente, sty lis elon g a tis.— Sida Tasmanica, H f . in Hook.
Journ. B o t. ii. 4 1 2 . {Gum i, 6 5 3 .)
H a b . Abundant th roughout th e Island, in rich alluvial soil. . Tar. /8. Campbell Town, e tc .— (El.
Oct. N o v .) {v. V.)
D i s t k i b . South-eastern Australia. Tar. /9. Maequarrie River, Cunningham.
A shmb 5 -9 fee fh igh , with slender stems and branches, covered w ith dark-coloured bark, tbe fobage, branches,
and inflorescence more or less covered with stellate pubescence, sometimes almost glabrous, at others very woolly or
even white w ith soft down.— Leaves 1 -3 inches long, on petioles of equal length, naiTow ovate-cordate, with deeply
two-lobed cordate bases, strongly crenate margins, and slender points, often quite glabrous above, and nearly so
beneath ; rarely obscurely three-lobed, sometimes (in var. 0 ) softly downy on both sides. Male flowers in drooping
axibary racemes, which are shorter tban the leaves, on short pedicels ; females smaber, crowded in short irregular
spikes, or densely aggregated into masses. Calyx broadly campanulate, five-lobed, varying from almost glabrous
to very densely wooby. Petals five, narrow oblong, or obovate-oblong, rounded at the tip, white, 2 -3 lines
long. Staminal tube erect, four- to six-lobed at the top. Anthers glabrous or setose, especiaby in the female
flowers of var. 0 . Ovaries five, vblous, one-ovuled. Stigmas elongate, bnear-clavate, blunt, glandular down the
inner face. Fruit 4 ineb in diameter, four- or five-lobed, o f as many caipels, which separate fi-om a central
persistent column, densely pubescent, one-seeded, dehiscing along the dorsum. Seed w ith a brown, smooth,
coriaceous testa.— I was for some time inclined to retain the var. ^ as a distinct species, but after a very careful
comparison of many specimens, I have been obbged to reduce it. Mr. Gunn sends it at one time as a different
species and at another as a variety o f F . pulchellus. The pubescent and even wooby leaves and calyx afford no
constant character ; and the styles, wliich ai-e usuaby longer and more slender, vary so much with age, aud in tbfferent
individuals, that I am unable to attach specific value to their variations.
2 . Plagianthus sidoides (H o ok . B ot. Mag. t. 3 3 9 6 ) ; moUiter stellatim tomeiitosus, foliis lineari-
oblongis breve petiolatis grosse obtuse serratis superne reticulatis subtus cauo-tomentosis, racemis masculis
suberectis brevibus, foemiiieis brevioribus, carpellis 2 persistentibus.— Hook. Journ. B o t. ii. 4 6 4 , Comp.
VOL. I . 0