Class 18. Polyadelphia. Stamens united by their filaments into more than 2 parcels. Orders 3, distinguished by the number or insertion of their stamens, which last particular Linnæus here overlooked.
No part of the Linnæan system has been less accurately defined or understood than the Orders of the 18th Class. Willdenow, aware of this, has made some improvements, but they appear to me not sufficient, and I venture to propose the following arrangement.
1. Dodecandria. Stamens, or rather Anthers, from 12 to 20, or 25, their filaments unconnected with the calyx. Of this the first example that presents itself is Theobroma, the Chocolate tree, Merian. Surin. t. 26, 63, Lamarck Encycl. t. 635. The flowers have not been seen fresh in Europe, and we only know them from drawings made in the West Indies, one of which, preserved in the Linnæan herbarium, is my authority for the following descriptions. The filaments are inserted between the long tapering segments of a 5-cleft nectary, on its
