OF SOME AMAZON TEEE8. / 



which have the branches horizontal and pinnate, the leaves subli- 

 gulate, and the inflorescence axillary, there is a strong general 

 resemblance to Anonaceae ; and a notable example is Tiliacea, PI. 

 Am. 4595, a tree of 60 feet, abundant in the gapo of the Huallaga 

 and Maranon, which has the branches very slightly ascending and 

 bipinnate. 



Malea, an Euphorbiaceous genus, abundant in the forests of 

 the Amazon, but rare elsewhere, has verticillato-proliferous rami- 

 fication, very much on the same plan as Citrosma, PI. Am. 3765. 

 Mabea Maynensis, PL Am. 4888, the only species of this genus I 

 have noted in the Andes, afc the head of a valley near Tarapoto, I find 

 thus described in my notes : — " Arbuscula tenuis, 12-20-pedalis, 

 prolifero-ramosa, sc. apice ramos 3 (raro 4) elongatos simplices v. 

 subpinnatos proferens, dein infra verticillum innovans et denuo 

 apice verticillatim ramosa," &c. But Mabea, 1324, a plant of the 

 same genus from Barra, has as many as twelve branches in a 

 whorl. 



The pines and firs of temperate and frigid climes offer still more 

 striking examples of a whorled ramification combined with a pyra- 

 midal or dome-shaped crown. The only tree allied to this group, I 

 have hitherto seen in S. America, is a Podocarpus (PL Am. 5519) 

 which I found growing in the Valley of Pangor, on the western 

 slope of the cordillera, some distance south of Chimborazo, at a 

 height of 12,000 feet. This tree has the stem and primary 

 branches verticillato-ramose, branches numerous, mostly indefi- 

 nite, not all of equal size nor exactly in the same plane ; secondary 

 branches simple, or subpinnately branched, rarely with whorled 

 ramuli. 



It is not often that we find examples of solitary and verticillate 

 branching in the same Order ; and I know of but one instance of 

 the two modes coexisting in the same genus, — namely, in Diospyros, 

 of which four Amazon species, viz. D. longifolia, PL Am., D. 

 glomerata, PL Am., D. polyandra, PL Am., and PL Am. 4411 

 (Tarapoto), have the branches in whorls of five (very rarely three 

 or four) ; and three species, viz. D. Pbppigiana DC, PL Am. 3138 

 (San Carlos), and PL Am. 3159 (Casiquiare), have solitary alter- 

 nate branches. The former group, besides the Myristicoid habit, 

 differs from typical Diospyros in the polyandrous flowers and the 

 corolla, so deeply cloven that its five or six lacini® seem distinct 

 petals ; the latter, corresponding to Diospyros proper, has oligan- 

 drous flowers and the corolla tubular or hypocrateriform, with a 

 short 4-5-lobed limb. The differences in habit and character of 



