110 ON THE PROTEACE^E OF JUSSIEU.
semuncialis. Nux undique pubescens, pedicello brevissimo, glabro, rugoso.
��9. NIVENIA. Paranomus. Salisb. Par ad.
Char. Gen. Calyx quadrifidus, sequalis, totus deciduus. Stigma clavatum, verticale. Nux ventricosa, nitens, sessilis, basi Integra. Involucrum simplici serie tetraphyllum, quadriflorum, fructifemm induratum ; Beceptaculo piano epaleato.
Habitus. Fractices. Folia sparsa, ' inferior a bipin- natifida filiformia ; superior a, in quibusdam, indivisa, plana. Involucra in spicam rariilsve capitidum terminate digesta, sessilia, br acted unied subtensa. Flores p?/rpurascentes.
This genus is published by Mr. Salisbury : his primary generic character does not indeed at all differ from that which he has given to Mimetes ; in his account of Inflor- escence, however, it is evident he understood the genus nearly as I have here proposed it : I should therefore have adopted his name had it appeared to me tenable ; but I am disposed to believe that he will, on reconsidering the subject, see the propriety of relinquishing it ; for the irregularity or unusual structure, which (if I understand him) he says exists " tot partibus diversis," only takes is*] place in the leaves of a small number of species ; on the other hand, the flowers of all are perfectly regular, and that too in opposition to some of the most nearly related genera, while the great uniformity and regularity of inflor- escence forms an essential part of its character. I have therefore named it in honour of Mr. James Niven, an intelligent observer and indefatigable collector, to whom botanists are indebted for the discovery of many new species, especially in the two extensive South-African families of Erica and Proteaceae.
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