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NOTE ON PANICUM MANDSHURICU.U, Maxim.
By H. F. Hance, Ph.D., etc.
The grass which, under the name of Fanicum Willianmi, (Ami. Sc.
Nat. 5me. ser, v. 250), I dedicated to my esteemed correspondent, Dr.
S. Wells Williams, at present United States' charge d' affaires at Peking,
proves, on comparison with a specimen gathered by M. Maxiniowicz
himself on the river Schilka, to be identical with tlie typical Ibrm of
the above-mentioned species, which I also possess from Jehol, from
Pere David. Though I have long had from Dr. WLlliams the variety
Pekinense, Maxim., which I had no difficulty in determining, it is so
imlike the typical form in appearance, with its hirsute vaginse and
short whorled panicle-branches, with crowded small spikelets, that I
never even suspected their specific identity, nor should 1 probably have
done so now, but for my recognition of that of the Schilka plant, with
the smooth, long-panicled one from Peking and Jehol. In illustration
of the extreme difficulty of deciding on affinity in this most intricate of
«rrass-o:enera, I mav notice that M. Maximowicz, characterizing P.
Mandshiiricum as very distinct, believed its nearest allies to be P.
amarum, Ell., and some other North American species, whilst I was
myself disposed to consider it akin to P. excurrens, Trin. My iVicud
Dr. Thwaites, on the other hand, to whom I sent a specimen, wrote to
me that it was " very closely allied to, if not a form of P. leptochloa,
Nees." Though I do not doubt its claim to specific rank, I am equally
satisfied that the judgment of Dr. Thwaites as to its relationship is
more correct than that of either its accomplished discoverer or of my-
self.
NOTE ON THE CAPPARIS MAGNA, OF LOUUEIRO.
By H. p. Hance, Ph.D., etc.
In a small collection of plants made in the interior of the island of
Haenan, in March last, by Mr. Kobert Swinhoe, and submitted by that
gentleman for my examination, amongst which I may merition as re-
markable the rare Harrisonia Bennettu, Benth. and Hook, fil.,*
* I find in tliis plant the staminal scales quite entire, as figured by Bennett
(PI. Jav. Rar. t. 42) ; not bifid, as described in the 'Genera Plantariun :' the
flowei's have sometimes six petals and twelve stamens.