If the comparison thus instituted with Pterospermum and Sterculia be attentively considered, we cannot fail to remark that the subject of these observations is nearly equally related to both; to Pterospermum in its petals and fruit, to Sterculia in its calyx and stamens. It must, therefore, be stationed between those two genera, thus confirming the propriety of M. [p112] Kunth’s combination of the Sterculiaceæ of Ventenat with the Byttneriaceæ of Mr. Brown; and, in fact, breaking down every barrier between them.
There are many other points that will suggest themselves to the Botanist, in which this plant is highly worthy of consideration, but for the present it will be enough to give the botanical characters with which it may stand recorded. It is named in honour of John Reeves, Esq., now resident at Canton, to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of it, from whose unwearied exertions in the cause of science the botany of China has received material assistance, and to whom our gardens are indebted for many of the fairest ornaments they contain.
REEVESIA.
Ord. Nat. BYTTNERIACEÆ; Sterculiam (Erythropsin) inter et terospermum.
Calyx campanulatus, 5-dentatus, æstivatione imbricatâ, pube stellatâ tomentosus, bracteolatus. Petala 5, hypogyna, unguiculata, æstivatione convoluta, callo inter unguem et laminam. Stamina in toro longo filiformi insidentia. Antheræ 15, sessiles, in cyatho capituliformi, apice tantum pervio, obsoletè 5-dentato connatæ, extrorsæ, biloculares, loculis divaricatis intricatis, longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Pollen sphæricum glabrum. Ovarium sessile, intrà cyathum antheriferum, ovatum, glabrum, 5-angulare, 5-loculare, loculis dispermis. Ovula margini loculorum unum super alterum affixa, superiore basi concavo in inferiorem incumbente. Stigma 5-lobum, simplicissimum, sessile. Capsula stipitata, lignosa, obovata, 5-angularis, 5-locularis, loculicidò 5-valvis, axi nullo. Semina cuique loculo duo basi alata.——Arbor (Chinæ) foliis alternis exstipulatis, racemis terminalibus compositis, floribus albis.
1. Reevesia thyrsoidea.
Habitat in China (v. s. sp. in Herb. et iconem in Bibliotheca Soc. Hort.)
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