| 26 | Mr. Brown, on the Proteaceae of Jussieu. |
proves it to be of no further moment than in distinguishing species.
Dr. Smith has given it as his opinion, that from the disposition of leaves in New Holland plants no conclusion can safely be drawn as to their genera. This remark however appears to me only applicable to certain families, or rather genera; for in many tribes the plants of that country are altogether as constant in their leaves as in any other part of the world. In proof of this, it may be sufficient to mention the order Rubiaceae; and there are many others in which I find nothing at all remarkable in this respect.
As to Proteaceae, it must be acknowledged that in Banksia both verticillated and scattered leaves occur; but the leaves constantly in threes in Lambertia seems to me a circumstance of even greater importance than the number of flowers in the involucrum; and the opposite leaves of Xylomelum distinguish it at once both from Rhopala and Hakea.
Although the form and divisions of leaves in the order are variable in no common degree, yet there are certain genera, both among those of Africa and New Holland, which the leaves even in these respects assist in indicating. Thus, in that genus to which I have applied the name of Protea (the Erodendrum of Mr. Salisbury), and I believe also in my Leucadendron, there is no instance of a divided or toothed leaf; thus also the leaves of Spatalla are filiform and undivided, and those of Serruria filiform and almost always pinnatifid. Their dichotomous divisions in Simsia and Franklandia are still more characteristic; and their division and remarkable reticulation readily distinguish Synaphea from Conospermum.
The inflorescence in Proteaceæ, whatever use botanists may think proper to make of it in their generic characters, is of un-
| doubted |
