received from M. Jomard, I have found from fourteen to sixteen. But were the number of stamina even constantly eight, this alone would not justify its separation from .Capparis, several octandrous species of which, belonging to the same section; are already known. Another species of Capparis, also from Bornou, exists in the herbarium. It appears to be undescribed, and to belong to M. De Candolle’s first section of the genus; but the specimen is too imperfect to be satisfactorily determined. Both these species have aculei stipulates, and it may here be remarked that all the plants Belonging either to Capparis, or to any of the genera.of the order whose fruit is* a berry, in which these aculei are found, are indigenous either to Asia, Africa, or Europe; while all the aculeated Cleomes, with the exception of perhaps a single African species, are natives of equinoxial America. M j e r u a r í g i d a . This plant, of which flowering specimens were collected at Aghedem, certainly belongs to Forskal’s genus Masrua, adopted by Vahl and De Candolle; and I believe it to be a species distinct from the three already published. It is very nearly related, however, to a fourth species (M. Senegalensis nob.), of which I received a specimen from M. Desfontaines. M. De Candolle has placed the genus Maerua at the end of Capparideee, between which and Passifloreae he considers it intermediate. This view of its relation to these two orders I cannot adopt. To me it appears truly a Cap- paridea, having very little affinity with Passifloreae, to which it seems to approach in one point only, namely, the corona of the calyx. But of a similar corona rudiments exist in several other African Capparideae, and from some of these the genus Maerua is with difficulty distinguished *. * MJERUA. Maerua. FQrsk. Arab. p. 104. V a h l symb. 1. p. 36. De Cand. Prodr. 1. p. 254. C h a r. Gen. Calyx tubulosus: limbo 4-partito, sstivatione simplici serie valvata: corona faucis petaloidea. Pétala nulla. Stipes genitulium elongatus. Stamina numerosa. Pericarpium (siliquiforme ?) baccatum. Frútices inermes, pv.be, dum adsit, simplici. Folia Simplicia coriácea: petiolo atm dentículo rami articulado : stipulis miyutissimis setaceis. M íe ru a rigida, corymbis terminalibus paucifloris, foliis obovatis crassis rigidis aveniis nervo obsoleto, corona lacero-multipartita. D b sc : Frutex ? Rami stricti teretes tenuissime pubescentes. Folia sparsa, obovata cum mu- cronulo brevissimo, plana semiunguicularia, utrinque pube tenuissima brevissima simplici, nervo R e s e d a c eæ . The herbarium contains two species of Reseda. The specimens of one of these are too imperfect to be determined. The other is probably undescribed, though very nearly related to R. suffruticulosa, and undata of Linnæus. This supposed new species (Reseda propinqun) was found near Tripoli by Mr. Ritchie, and between Tripoli and Mourzuk by Dr. Oudney. It is remarkable in having the ungues of all the petals simple ; that is, neither dilated, thickened, nor having any process or appendage at the point of union with the trifid lamina, into which they gradually pass. We have here therefore a species of Reseda with petals not different in any respect from those bf many other families of plants ; and, although this is an exception to their usual structure in the genus, I shall endeavour to show that all the deviations existing, however complex in appearance, are reducible to this more simple /s tate of the o. rgan. ... . . . . R e s é d a Ce æ , consisting of Reseda, divisible into sections or subgenera, and Ochradenus, which may perhaps be regarded as only one of these subdivisions, I consider very nearly related to Capparideæ, and as forming part of tlie same natural class. It differs, in the variable number of the parts of its ubsoléto, vends fere ineonspicuis. Peiioli lineam cîrciter longi. Stipulée latérales, setaceæ, petioli dimidio breviores, ramulo appressæ, post lapsuxn folii persistentes. Ramulijloriferi sæpius latérales abbreviati, e foliis confertis floribusque corymboso-fasciculatis (3—6.), quorum exteriores folio sub- tensi; quandoque corymbus ramum terminât. Pedunculiteretes, tenuissimepubescentes, ebracteati excepto foliolo florali dum adsit ejusque stipulis vix conspicuis. Calyx infundibuliformis, extus tenuissime pubescens : tubus subcylindraceus, 8-striatus striis elevâtis æqualibus, intus lineis dua- bus prominulis subcarnosis, cum limbi laciniis alternantibus, altera crassiore : limbus tubo paulo longior, 4-partitus laciniis æqualibus, ovatis acutiusculis, obsolete venosis, 5-nerviis, nervis extimis margini approximatis, e furcatione costarum quatuor tubi cum laciniis alternantium ortis ; æstivatione simplici serie valvata marginibus tamen paulo inflexis. Corona faucis monophylla, laciniis limbi multotiesbrevior, lacero-multipartita lacinulis subulatis inæqualibus. Stipes genitalium liber, cylindraceus, glaber, altitudine tubi. Stamina : Filamenta indeterminatim numerosa, viginti circiter, iiliformia glabra, æstivatione contortuplicata. Antheroe iiicumbentes, ovali-oblongæ obtuste, basi semibifidæ, loculis parallelo-approximatis, intus longitudinaliter dehiscentibus, æstivatione eréctæ. Ovarium e centro filamentorum stipitatum, cylindraceum,. glabrum, uniloculare placentis duabus parietalibus polyspermis. Stylus nullus. Stigma depresso-capitatum. . . Obs. Species hæcce proxime accedit Mæruæ senegalensi nob. quæ vix pubescens et foliis venosis distincta; in multis quoque convenit, fide descriptionis Forskalii, cum Mærua uniflora Vahl, a nobis non visa. Mærua angolehsis, De Cand. (in Museo Parisiensi visa) clii flores pàriter corymbosi et corona lacero-multipartita, satis diversa est foliis ovalibus. g g 2
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