On the subject of the position of the Pistilla in the other degrees of reduction from the symmetrical number, I shall not at present enter. But in reference to Leguminos®, I may remark,. that it would be of importance to ascertain the position of the Pistilla in the pentagynous Mimosea, stated to have been found in Brazil by M. Auguste de St. Hilaire *. Are these Pistilla placed opposite to the divisions of the calyx, as might probably be inferred from the position of the solitary Legumen in this class ? Or are we to expect to find them opposite to the petals, which is the more usual relation, and their actual place in Cnestis, though the single ovarium of Connarus, a genus belonging to the same family, is seated within the anterior division of the calyx ? In the very few Leguminosae in which the division of the flower is quaternary, namely, in certain species of Mimosa, the ovarium is still placed within one of the divisions of the calyx. As to Moringa, which was originally referred to this class from a mistaken notion of its absolutely belonging to Guilandina, it is surely sufficiently different from all Leguminos®, not only in its compound unilocular ovarium with three parietal placentas, but also in its simple unilocular anther® j and it appears to me to be an insulated genus, or family (Moringece), whose place in the natural series has not yet been determined. C i s a l p in e * . Of this tribe, four species only occur in the collection. One of these is Bauhinia rufescens of Lamarck (Illustr. 829, f. 2.); another is Cassia (Senna) obovata, which, according to Dr. Oudney, grows wild in small quantities in Wady Ghrurbi. P a p il io n a c e * . Twenty-six species of this tribe are contained in the herbarium, none of which form new genera, and the only two species that appear to be unpublished belong to Indigofera. Alhagi Maurorum, or Agoul, is abundant in Fezzan, where it forms excellent food for camels. C o m p o s it e . Of this class, thirty-six species exist in the collection. The far greater part of these were found in the vicinity of Tripoli and in the Desert. All of them appear to belong to established genera, and very few species are undescribed. R u b ia c e * . The herbarium contains only six species of this family, five * De Cand. Legum. p. 52. of which, belonging to Spermacoce and Hedyotis, were found in Bomou and Soudan; the sixth, a species of Galium, near Tripoli. Of A sc l e f ia d e * only three plants occur. One of these is a new species of Oxystelma, exactly resembling in its flowers O. esculentum of India, from which it differs in the form pf its leaves, and in that of its fruit*. A species of Doemia was found in the Desert; but the specimens are too imperfect to be ascertained. Of Apocinece, strictly so called, there is no plant whatever in the collection; and of Gentiane®, a single species only of Erythr®a. Se sam e * . An imperfect specimen of Sesamum pterospermum, of the catalogue of Mr. Salt’s Abyssinian plants f, is in the collection from Bomou. S apo t e * . The only plant of this family in the herbarium is the Mica- dania, or Butter Tree of Soudan, particularly noticed by Captain Clapperton. The specimen, however, is very imperfect, consisting of detached leaves, an incomplete fruit, and a single ripe seed. On comparing these leaves with the specimen of Park’s Shea Tree J, in the Banksian Herbarium, I have little doubt that they both belong to one and the same species. Whether this plant is really a Bassia, is not equally certain ; and the seed at least agrees better with Vitellaria paradoxa of the younger Gaertner, (Carpol. tab. 205.) than with that of Bassia, figured by his father, (de Fruct. et Sem. PI. tab. 104.) That the woody shell in the nuts of all Sapote® is really formed of the testa or outer membrane of the seed, as I have elsewhere stated §, and not of a portion of the substance of the pericarpium, according to the late M. Richard and the younger Gartner, is proved not only by the aperture or micropyle being still visible on its surface, as M. Turpin has already shown in one case, (Ann. du Mus. d’Hist. Nat. 7, tab. 11, f. 3.) ; but also by the course and termination of the raphe, as exhibited in the younger G®rtner’s figures of Calvaria and Sidero- xylum, (Carpol. tabb. 200, 201, et 202.) and by the origin and ramification of the internal vessels. * O x y s t e l m a Bornouense, f lo r ib u s r a c em o s is , c o ro ll® la c in i i s s em io v a t i s , f o l l ic u l i s in f la t i s , fo liis la n c e o la t i s b a s i c o r d a t i s . Ob s.—Inflorescentia et corolla omnino O. esculenti, a quo differt folliculis inflatis, et foliis omnibus basi cordatis. f Salt's Voy. to Abyss, append, p . l x i i i . J Park's First Journey, p. 202 and 352. § Prod. Flor. Nov. Holl. 1, p. 528.
27f 24
To see the actual publication please follow the link above