66 



foliis oppositis integris integerrimis, inflorescentia axillari cymosa pauci- 

 flura. Bentham in litt. 



There is a little Mexican shrub in our gardens, with the 

 appearance of an Olive, the flowers of a Verbena, and the 

 name of Daphne. Mr. Hartweg found it in fruit only, and 

 sent it to the Horticultural Garden, where it has flowered ; 

 and has proved to be a new genus of the Verbenaceous order, 

 for which Mr. Bentham has framed the preceding technical 

 character. Its nearest affinity seems to be with iEgiphila. 

 The flowers are small, greenish white, in little axillary cymes. 

 It has no beauty. 



99. PERISTERIA. 



Upon reconsidering the generic character of this genus, 

 and carefully studying its species, we find that it has not yet 

 been defined with sufficient exactness, and that we ourselves 

 lately, deceived by habit and a loose definition, have admitted 

 into it a species which ought to have been excluded. The 

 type of the genus is the Dove Plant, or Spirito Santo, of Pa- 

 nama, in which we find an erect scape ; globose fleshy flowers ; 

 equal and regular sepals united at the base, but projecting 

 forwards with the chin usual in the Maxillaridous section ; a 

 lip continuous with the column, fleshy, arrow-headed at the 

 base, distinctly articulated in the middle, and having its epi- 

 chilium undivided and bent down over the face of the column ; 

 a column short, fleshy, and wingless ; and finally a pair of 

 furrowed pollen-masses, sessile on a. narrow gland. With 

 these peculiarities, most of the Peristerias afterwards published 

 agree, except that their scapes are pendulous, instead of being 

 erect. 



But I find that Peristeria Humboldti, figured at t. 18 of 

 this volume, is in some important respects different ; its upper 

 sepal stands a little apart, so as to give the flower somewhat 

 a two-lipped appearance ; its labellum has no articulation in 

 the middle ; and its pollen-masses are placed at the end of a 

 narrow caudicle, terminating in a crescent-shaped gland; 

 added to which the column is furnished with a pair of very 

 broad wings. All these circumstances induce us now to sepa- 

 rate Peristeria Humboldti under the name of Acineta, in 

 allusion to the immoveable jointless condition of the lip. 

 Peristeria Barkeri is a second species of this genus. 



