ON SOUTH-AMERICAN APOCYNACEZ. 83 
basal scales; corolla salver-shaped, white, its tube cylindrical, 4 lines long, pilose within ; 
segments obliquely oblong, roundish on one side, with crispate margins, dextrorsely 
convoluted, rotate, a little longer than the tube; stamens inserted in a pilose ring above 
the base of the tube; filaments short, pubescent; anthers slender, with a membranaceous 
apex, acuminate, obtusely and shortly 2-lobed at the base; disk of 5 oblong lobes, hardly 
discernible; ovaries 2; clavuncle incrassated, 5-grooved, with a peltate membrane at 
the base. 
The species is very near 4. flavicans. 
GEISSOSPERMUM. 
This peculiar genus was established in 1849, by Dr. Fr. Allemáo, with an excellent 
description and drawing. Its chief characters reside in its alternate leaves, its extra- 
axillary inflorescence, the segments of the salver-shaped corolla having a dextrorse con- 
volution, in its cordate anthers, and especially in the structure of the follicles and seeds. 
Six species are here enumerated, all Brazilian. 
GrissosPERMUM, F. Allemáo: Sepala 5, lanceolata aut ovata, subacuta, imo in cupulam brevissimam 
connata, intus squamula minuta annulo pilorum intermixta instructa. Corolla hypocrateriformis 
tubus cylindricus infra faucem paullo inflatus et ibi obsolete plicatus, intus annulo pilorum signatus ; 
segmenta oblonga, obtusa, vix insequilatera, in estivatione paullo dextrorsum convoluta, tubo sub- 
breviora. Stamina 5, inflatione tubi inclusa; filamenta brevia, retrorsum pilosa; anthere subovate, 
apiculate, imo emarginato-bilobe. Discus urceolatus, membranaceus, ovaria fere abscondens. 
Ovaria 2, ovata, discreta, pilosa ; stylus simplex; clavuncula incrassata, ad antheras agglutinata ; 
stigmata 2, breviter obtusa, terminalia. Folliculi 2, valde divaricati, oblongi, imo rotundati, apice 
sensim acutati, baccati, ventre sutura crassa dehiscentes, marginibus profunde introflexis et placenti- 
feris. Semina ex utraque placenta 2-5, subcompresse ovata, uno latere, in centro, hilo signata, hoc 
ad funiculum subcarnosum peltatim affixa, primum in hune semiimmersa, dein sua prolongatione a pla- 
centa suspensa; testa calva, chartacea ; tegmen membranaceum ; albumen tenuiter corneum ; embryo 
heterotropus eo subbrevior; cotyledones 2, cordato-deltoidez, foliaceze ; radicula teres, ad summum 
spectans, dimidia longitudine cotyledonum. 
Arbores proceri Brasilienses frondosi, vix lactescentes, cortice externo crasso, interno plurilamel- 
lato; ramuli bis trichotome divisi, exstipulati; folia alterna, elliptica, petiolata; panicule eztra- 
axillares, folii dimidia longitudine ; pedunculus brevis, 2-ramosus, ramulis flores plures pedicellatos 
parvos subumbellatos gerentibus, cunctis sepius undique pubescentibus. 
l. GzaissosezRMvM VELLosi, Fr. Allem. Trab. Soc. Vellos. tab. 7 (excl. syn. Vell); Müll. Fl. Bras. 
fasc. xxvi. p. 90 (in parte) : Vallesie sp., Riedel in Man. Agric. Bras. Prov. Rio de Janeiro, in 
montibus ad altit. 1000 ped. et ultra: non vidi. 
A tree of great height, the trunk covered with a very thick bark, and an inner lamellar 
bark, apparently not lactescent ; branches flexuous, twice trichotomous, branchlets straight, 
cinereo-tomentose, becoming smooth; axils $ in. apart; leaves alternate, subdistichous, 
elliptie, acute at the base, acuminate, very undulate on the margins, chartaceous, 
younger ones cinereo-sericeous, with nerves prominulent on both sides, 2-3 in. long, 
1-14 in. broad, on petioles 2-3 lines long; panicle placed 2 lines above or below the 
axils; peduncle stout, angular, 4 lines long, its 2 branchlets 2 lines long, bracteolated, 
bearing on their summits each 3-4 fasciculated flowers, on pedicels 1 line e sepals 
M 
