Tab. 5638. 



DICTYOPSIS Thtobeegii. 



Tkunbergs Dictyopsis. 



Nat. Ord. Smilace^:. — Hexandbia Monogtnia. 



Gen. Char. Flores hermaphroditi. Perianthium deciduum, tubuloso- 

 campanulatum, limbo brevi 6-lobo, lobis recurvis 3-nerviis. Stamina 6 basi 

 penantlm tubi inserta, filamentis inferne tubo adnatis, inclusis ; anther® 

 oblongae. Ovarium ovoideum, basi attenuatum, apice cum stylo columnari 

 continuum 3-loculare, stigmate capitato 3-lobo ; ovula in loculis 2-4 2- 

 seriata. Bacca globosa, 3-locularis, oligosperma. Semina plano-convexa 

 testa coriacea, albumine copioso.— Herba ylaberrima, scandens, foliosa 

 ramis gracilhmis teretibm. Folia sessilia, ovata, acuminata, inteaerrimd 

 basi rotunda/a v. cordata, casta tenui distincta, nervis lateralibus numerosis 

 tenmbus, nervuhs transversis pulcherrime reticulatis. Pedunculi simplices 

 v. 3-ckotome ramosp, aocillares et terminates, pedicellis gracilibus sub calyce 

 articulatis. i lores parvi, nutantes, albo-virescentes. 



Dictyopsis Tkunberaii. Harv. Gen. Cap. PL Ed. 2, ined. 



Kuscus reticulatus. Thunb. Prodr. Fl. Cap. 13. Willd. Sp. PL v. 4. «. 876. 

 Kunth, Enum. PL v. 5. p. 276. 



At Plate- 5584 of the last volume of the Magazine, was 

 figured a Cape climbing Liliaceous plant, of singular grace 

 and beaut}, so much resembling this in habit and general 

 appearance, that it must strike every one as surprising 

 that these plants have nothing whatever to do with one 

 another ; that they do not belong to the same natural family- 

 even ; and that the apparently precisely similar leaves of the 

 two are in the one case (that of the Myrsiphyllmn) not leaves 

 at all (as noticed under its description). The Myrsiphyllum 

 is a Liliaceous plant, with six leaflets to the perianth, seeds 

 with a black covering, and the apparent leaves are flattened 

 leaf-like branches, growing from the axils of small scale-like 

 true leaves. The Dictyopsis is a Smilaceous plant, with 

 an entire tube to the perianth, seeds with a coriaceous 

 pale testa, and true leaves without scales at their bases. 



APRIL 1st, 1867. 



