274 MR. A. AY. EEXXETT OK THK GENUS UYUIiOLEA, 



glaber, inermis, vel rarissime spiiiis j)eipaucis glabris annatus. Folia 

 hneari-lanceolata, 15-20 lin. lotiga, 4-5 lin. lata^ Integra^ utrinque at- 

 tenuata, breviter petiolata, glaberrima, veua media subtua prominente. 

 Flores pauci, parvi; cymae laxse, nuda3, vel foliis paucis praeditEC, pedun- 

 lata;; pedicelli et braeteai glabrae. Sepala ovato-lanceolata, circa 2 

 lin. longa, acuta, basi vix coalita, veiiosa, glabra, vel pilis paucis rigidis 

 praedita. Petala 2-3-liuearift, cserulea, calyce vixlougiora. Ovarium 

 ovatuii), glabrum, biloculare. Styli duo, divergentes, decidui. Stig- 

 mata capitata. Capsala orbicularis, glabra, bilocularis, calyce per- 

 sistcnte paulo longior. Semina parva, longitudinaliter rugoso-striata. 

 Hydrolea glabra, Schiim. Guin. p. 161, — II. guineensis, Chois. Ann, Sc. 

 Nat. 1834, p. 180; DC. ProtZr.— H. multiflora /3. glabra, DC Prodr. 

 H. zeylanica 8. glaberrima, Chois, in Descr, Hydrol. 



This species might at first sight be taken for an unarmed form 

 of II. elegans^ but is readily distinguished by a certain difference 

 lu habit, arising from the inflorescence heing much less leafy and 

 ihe flowers decidedly smaller. This difference I find to be accom- 

 panied by a calyx shorter but more completely surrounding the 

 ripe capsule, the sepals being of a decidedly different shape, ovate 

 instead of lanceolate. The difference in the seeds, already spoken 

 of, is also very marked. These characters serve to distingui=5h 

 the species in those rare instances where the plant is furnished 

 with a few scattered weak spines. Although, judging from the 

 number of specimens in the continental herbaria, this is the most 

 abundant species in Tropical America except i/. ^^^«05a, it appears 

 to have been but imperfectly know^n to Prof. Choisy, who describes 

 a specimen in Burchell's collection Q'Evolvulus, no. 1365 ") clearly 

 referable to this species (and its only representative in the Kew 

 herbarium) in the first place, in his * Description des Hydrolea- 

 cees,' as a variety of //. zeylanica, and secondly, in De Candolle's 

 ' Prodromus,' as a variety of II. midtijlora, a plant to which it bears 

 no resemblance. The species was first described by Schumacher 

 in his 'Flora of Guinea' under the name of Ji. glabra^ which 

 name Choisy changed, without assigning any reason, to II guineen' 

 ais ] hence arises considerable confusion in nomenclature. I tave 

 iiot, however, seen any African specimens. The Brazilian exam- 

 ples of it are marked : — " prope Rio de Janeiro et Tejucco," Pohl, 

 in the Munich Herbarium ; Schott, 5357, '' Campo Vittorio," Sello, 

 nos. 250, 333, 411, 5290, in the Berlin collection; and Burchell, 

 1365, in that of Kew, Sello's no. 938, from the Eio Negro, iu 

 the Berlin Herbarium, is possibly a distinct species, closely re- 

 sembling II glabra, but more hairy. 



