Tan, 5972. 
ASTEROSTIGMA Luscuwarnranvm. 
Native of Rio de Janeiro. 
Nat. Ord. Aroipex,—Tribe, AsTrrosTIGMEx. 
Genus Asterostiema, Schott. Prodr. Syst. Aroid., p. 337. 
Asterostiama Luschnathianum ; scapo petioloque teretibus albis maculis ver- 
ticalibus nigro-brumeis pulcherrime irroratis, folio pinnatisecto late 
triangulari-ovato, segmentis 2 infimis deflexis pinnatilobatis, ceteris 
e basi lata decurrente lanceolatis obtuse acuminatis irregulariter 
sinuato-lobatis, spatha 2-4-pollicari cylindrica apiculata viridi purpureo- . 
punctata spadicem vix superante intus reticulata, spadicis parte feminea 
ad medium dorso spathe adnata cum mascula continua, staminibus 
corallinis truncatis 3-12-poris, ovariis 3-5-locularibus, stigmatis lobis 
cuneatis emarginatis. 
Asterostiama Luschnathianum, Schott Synops. Aroid., vol. i. p. 126; Prodr. 
Syst. Aroid., p. 340. 
Arum Dracontium, Vellozo Flor. Flum., vol. ix. t. 103. 
A very singular Aroid, belonging to a small Brazilian 
genus never previously introduced into Europe, for tubers of 
which the Royal Gardens are indebted to D. Hanbury, F.HS., 
who, received them from Senor Correa de Melho, an inde- 
fatigable naturalist of Rio de Janeiro. ‘I'wo specimens 
flowered simultaneously in the propagating pit at Kew, in 
February of the present year, of which one bore a flowering 
spike alone, the other both a flower and a leaf. Neither 
was so large as the specimen represented in the “ Flora Flumi- 
nensis,” which has, moreover, a more acute spathe produced 
further beyond the spadix. These two specimens further 
differed, in that one (bearing the name of var. porphyrosticta) 
had more purple in the spots of the petiole and scape; the 
other (var. chlorostica) had greener spots. These differences 
disappeared with age. The leaf of the latter was of a paler 
green, with broader closer-set segments. The colour of the 
petiole, scape, spathe, and male portion of the spadix are very 
curious and striking. 
JUNE Ist, 1872. 
