580 LXV. BEGONIACEE (HOOKER). [ Begonia. 
Anthers linear, obtuse ; filaments very short. Female flower and fruit 
unknown. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra del Crystal, Gaboon river, Mann! FI. July. 
25. B. epiphytica, Hook. f. Stem slender, 14 ft. long, creeping 
and rooting at the nodes, flexuous, angular, ascending at the tip, an 
as well as the petioles, nerves beneath, and peduncles, sparsely clothed 
with a substellate rusty pubescence. Leaves alternate, petioled, rather 
membranous, 4—5 in. by 2—2 in., elliptic-oblong, acuminate, scarcely 
oblique, base rounded or slightly cordate, obscurely toothed at the tips 
of the few alternate nerves; petiole 3-1} in., rather slender; stipules 
3 in., subulate-lanceolate, ferruginous. Pedicels axillary, very short, 
3—5-flowered at the top,very unequal, 111} in., slender. Male fl. : Sepals 
2, rose-red, oblong, obtuse, } in., hairy on the back. Petals linear. 
Anthers subunilateral, broadly oblong, obtusely apiculate; filaments 
connate into a short column. Female flower and fruit unknown. 
Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, alt. 1000-2000 ft., on trees, Mann! Fi. Dec. 
26. B. loranthoides, Hook. f. Glabrous except the young leaves 
beneath petioles and peduncles, which are covered with minute, mem- 
branous, fimbriate scales. Branches very stout, woody, nodose ; bark 
smooth, spongy, covered with large raised circular scars. Leaves 
alternate, 3-4 in. by 3-1} in., shortly petioled, very thick and fleshy, 
obliquely elliptic-lanceolate, acute at both ends, quite entire, wrinkled 
and when dry nerves very faint, alternate, petiole 4-} in.; stipule ter- 
minating the branchlet, convolute, ? in., ovate with a subulate recurved 
point. Peduncle short, axillary, slender compared with the branch, 
several-flowered ; pedicels capillary, 4 in. Male fl.: Sepals 4, 2 outer 
3 in. long, elliptic-oblong, obtuse, 2 inner shorter, narrow linear. An- 
thers 3, very small, linear-oblong, obtuse ; filaments very short. Female 
flower and fruit unknown. 
Upper Guinea. On trees, Prince’s Island, Barter / 
A most curious species: the scales are precisely like those of B. squamulosa and 
eleagnifolia. 
Orver LXVI. CACTACEZ. (By Prof. Oliver.) 
(TRIBE OPUNTIER.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite, regular. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, 
scarcely produced above it; lobes few many or reduced to minute 
teeth. Petals numerous (6-co). Stamens indefinite, free or adnate 
to base of petals. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, style terminal simple, 
stigma radiately lobed; ovules indefinite parietal. Fruit baccate, many~ 
seeded. (Seeds exalbuminous in Rhipsalis).—Herbs or shrubs of ano- 
malous habit from succulence and varied dilatation of the stem (either 
columnar, globular or lobed), and usual suppression of the leaves. 
Flowers usually very handsome; minute in Rhipsalis. 
A considerable Natural Order, with the following exception, exclusively American, 
although a few species of Opuntiee are now naturalized in the Old World. 
