ON SOUTH-AMERICAN APOCYNACEA. 133 
Sripecoma, Müll. (char. emendat.). Sepala lineari-oblonga, longiuscula, obtusa, tenuiter membranacea, 
reticulata, erecta, intus ad basin squamulis singulis alternatim munita. Corolla tubulosa ; tubus calyce 
longior, cylindricus, crasse carnosus, imo latior, ad medium subito constrictus, superne inflatus, 
5-sulcato-plicatus, fauce coarctatus, aut levior et subcampanulatus ; segmenta 5, oblonga, rotunda- 
tim insequilatera, versus angulum sinistrum acuta, rotatim expansa, dextrorsum convoluta, tubo 
subequilonga. Stamina 5, inclusa; filamenta subbrevia, crassa, flexuosa, ad constrictionem tubi 
inserta; anthere majuscule, rigide, imo divaricatim biaristatz, apice acutissimze, in conum con- 
niventes, et ad clavunculam coherentes. Discus 5-lobus, lobis obtuse oblongis, carnosis, quam 
ovarias paullo brevioribus. Ovaria 2, oblonga, subacuta; stylus tenuis, clavuncula crasse cylindrica 
5-sulcata, imo membrana peltata suffulta, stamina attingens; stigmata terminalia, parvula, tenuia. 
Folliculi 2, majusculi, teretes, longi, subarcuati, apice coherentes, sutura ventrali dehiscentes ; 
pericarpium crassum, rigidum ; placenta maxima, tenuiter chartacea, medio longitrorsum carinata 
(carina intra suturam affixa, demum soluta), utrinque latissime extensa, et in tubi formam voluta, 
marginibus vix approximatis, hinc undique libera, extus levis, intus costellis prominulis 10 
(utrinque 5 carine parallelis) remote articulatis munita; articulis tot quot semina (circiter 60), 
singulatim funiculo brevi semen pendendo et appendice mitrzformi velata donatis; vase spirales 
medulla costellarum permeantes, per funiculos raphesque continuate, demum in chalazis basalibus 
evanide ; testa elliptico-oblonga, chartacea, glabra, dorso convexa, ventre canaliculata, et hinc raphe 
longitudinali a funiculo ad chalazam basalem continua signata, apice in rostrum breve constricta, 
superne in annulum micropylen ambientem et comiferum incrassata; coma teste longitudinis, 
e pilis elastice sericeis, erecta ; albumen teste conforme, durum ; embryo anatropus, inclusus; coty- 
ledones 2, oblong, foliacez, canaliculatim incurve ; radicula supera, teres, his triplo longior. 
Frutices scandentes Brasilienses : folia opposita, crassa, late ovato-oblonga, profunde peltata, petio- 
lata; racemi azillares, longiusculi, pendentes, tomentosi, ramosi; pedunculi bractea magna foliosa 
donati, pluriflori; pedicelli bibracteolati ; flores speciosi, lutei. 
l. Srirecoma PELTIGERA, Müll. Fl. Bras. xxvi. p. 176, tab. 53: Echites peltigera, Stadelm. Bot. Zeit. 
1841, Beibl. 21; A. DC. L c. p. 447: Echites tropaolifolia, A. DC. l. c. p. 447. In Brasilia, prov. 
Cuyaba, Minas Geraés et Bahia: non vidi. 
The type, and only species described by Müller as belonging to the genus; several 
others, however, are described by him under Echites which he did not recognize. This 
is a delicate climbing species, very different in appearance from the others, which gene- 
rally have very large leaves and bunches of handsome flowers. Its slender flexuose 
branches have axils 2-3 in. apart; its leaves opposite, oblong-ovate, peltate, rounded at 
the base, suddenly acuminate and mucronate at the apex, rigidly membranaceous, with 
revolute margins, rorid and cinereously reddish above, glaucously opake below, and 
covered with very minute whitish dots, 24-3 in. long, 12-13 in. broad, on angular 
slender petioles 14 in. long, fixed peltately 4-3 in. above their base; the panicles are 
terminal in the dichotomy of the ultimate pair of leaves in the young branchlets, 
14-23 in. long; peduncle 8 lines long, divided into 2 branches of the same length, each 
bearing about 6 flowers, on pedicels 3 lines long; flowers reddish, 93 lines long; sepals 
roundly ovate, obtuse, glabrous, with ciliolate margins, 1 line long, with a small basal 
bifid scale alternate with each; corolla glabrous ; tube cylindrical, contracted in the 
middle, where it is staminigerous, 6 lines long; segments dolabriform, 4 lines long and 
broad; anthers acuminate, 2-aristate at the base, hispid dorsally; lobes of disk sub- 
connate at the base, nearly as long as the 2 pilose ovaries; 2 follicles, straight, terete, 
