ON SOUTH-AMERICAN APOCYNACEZ. 151 
RHAPTOCARPUS*, 
This genus is proposed for some anomalous species of Echites, distinguished by their 
bilocular elongated capsular fruit, like two follicles agglutinated together, as in Prestonia, 
the seeds being crowned by a long coma. The floral characters are derived from the 
examination of a plant of Weir’s collection, specifically identical with one figured by 
Velloz in the * Flora Fluminensis ; but I have not seen the fruit. 
Ruarrocarrvs, nob. : Sepala 5, acuta, submembranacea, imo in cupulam brevem crasse gibbosam con- 
nata, singula squama lata, ad medium in lacinias 4 obtusas fissa intus donata. Corolla tubulosa ; tubus 
sepalis 2plo longior, ventricosus, fauce constrictus, undique nudus; segmenta 5, oblique dolabri- 
formia, pro tertia parte tubo longiora, æstivatione simpliciter dextrorsum convoluta. Stamina 5, 
fauce inclusa; filamenta brevissima, glabra; anthere in conum conniventes, vix exserte, imo 
breviter bilobze, apice acuminate. Discus 5-lobus, lobis carnosis obtusis, ovario subbrevior, Ovarium 
oblongum, 2-loculare. Stylus tenuis, tubo corolle paullo brevior; clavuncula crasse oblonga, imo 
annulata, 5-sulcata; stigma breviter bilobum. Capsula elongata, tereti-cylindrica, utrinque sulcata, 
2-locularis, dissepimento bilamellari per sulcos 'septicide dehiscens, septis medio longitudinaliter 
hiantibus, marginibus introflexis et placentaribus. Semina plurima, fusiformia, compressa, dorso 
costata ; coma ampla, erecta, 2plo longior. 
Frutices Brasilienses scandentes : folia opposita, ovata, breviter petiolata ; inflorescentia in quoque 
nodo solitaria, lateralis; pedunculus bifissus, ramulis longiusculis, spicatim plurifloris. 
. 1. RHAPTOCARPUS ODORIFEROUS, nob.: Echites odorifera, Vell. Fl. Flum. i. 109; Icon. iii. tab. 28; 
A. DC. Prodr. viii. 468; Müll. /. c. p. 156. In Brasilia: v. s. in herb. Soc. Reg. Hort. et meo in 
Jore, prov. S. Paulo (Weir 474). 
The specimen above quoted agrees perfectly with the drawing of Velloz. It is a 
scandent plant, with flexuose, fistulose, fuscous branches, sparsely covered with short 
reddish hairs, with axils 3 in. apart; leaves ovate-oblong, rounded and subcordate at the 
base, gradually narrower upwards, and mucronately acuminate, with retuse subrevolute 
margins, subchartaceous, above fuscous, opake, granular and sparsely pilose, especially 
on the immersed nerves, beneath ferruginous, opake, finely granulate, obsoletely pubes- 
cent, with darker prominent subpilose nerves, 31—4 in. long, 13-23 in. broad, on stout 
petioles 14 line long; inflorescence lateral at the nodes, elongated, ferruginously velu- 
tinous, on a peduncle 14 in. long; its 2 floriferous branches 21 in. long, each bearing 
about 12 alternate pedicellate flowers; pedicels 6-7 lines long, with a slender linear 
bract 13 line long; sepals narrow, acuminate, 2 lines long; tube of corolla — 
red, 8 lines long, membranaceous, ventricose, contracted for 2 lines below the mouth y 
segments red, whitish at the top, dolabriform, 4 lines long and broad ; anthers 3 lines 
long, included; disk 2 lines long; capsule, according to Velloz, 11 in. long, 1 in. broad, 
pendulous. : 
À drawing of this plant, and an analysis of its flower, fruit, and seeds, are shown in 
Plate XXT. 4. 
* From jdzrw (consuo), capris (fructus), because the elongated capsule resembles two confluent E 
