442 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



here, fig. 68), tho receptacle is flat, or at the most convex, and bor- 

 dered by long, linear, subulate bracts. The ovules are half immersed 

 in the former and the tubulose perianth is short, thick, smooth at tip, 

 and opening by a small pore. The male inflorescence is unknown. 



Bentham & Hooker a admit the genus Noyera, but amalgamate 

 with it Naucleopsis and Ogcodeia, which differ not only by characters of 

 the perianth, but also by the globose-ovoid receptacle in which tho 

 ovaries are deeply immersed. Engler 6 goes further, including Noyera, 

 as conceived by Bentham and Hooker, in Perebea as a simple section. 

 This does not appear to be justified, because in the latter genus the 

 perianth is formed by four segments that are free or connate, disposed 

 in two series, and always distinct at the tip. Besides, while tho recep- 

 tacle is more or less flattened, as in the typical Noyera, the ovaries 

 aro not immersed, the styles are short and thick, and the stigmatic 

 branches are either short or, in one species (P. marTchamiana) , expanded, 

 but never long-filiform. And, as we have just seen, Naucleopis stands 

 still further from Perebea, on account of its ovaries inclosed in tho 

 body of the head-like receptacle. 



MAQUIRA, A GENUS WITHOUT A STATUS. 



This apparently monotypic genus was established by Aublet on 

 immature specimens collected in French Guiana and described in his 

 supplement to the Plantes de la Guiane entitled: "Plantes de la 

 Guiane francoise dont on n'a pu se procurer des caracteres complets." 

 No new material seems to have been collected, and it is quite surpris- 

 ing to find how, notwithstanding, the description of the genus has 

 been steadily growing until it has reached its perfection in Baillon's 

 Histoire des Plantes. d 



While certain characters attributed by Aublet to the above-named 

 Maquira agree with descriptions by subsequent authors of other 

 species, belonging to distinct genera, it would occur to no one to deduce 

 any near affinity between Maquira and Perebea from the comparison 

 of plates 361 and 389 of tho Plantes de la Guiane, already referred to. 

 Besides, had such relationship existed, it is not likely that it would 

 have escaped the notice of the careful French botanist and have 

 failed to bo mentioned by him. Trecul, e who made a thorough 

 investigation of the group, does away with the genus Maquira 

 and places its representative among his " species ignotae" at- 

 tributing it with doubt to the genus Olmedia. The same view is 

 taken by Miquel in his Urticineae of the Flora Brasiliensis. / But 



a Gen. PL 3 : 373. 



b Pflanzenfam. 3 1 : 84. 



c Maquira Aubl. PI. Guian. Suppl. 36. pi. S89. 1775. 



rf6: 206. 1877. 



c Ann. ScL Nat. III. 8: 129. 1847. 



/ 4 > : 115. 1852. 



