Tas. 6165. 
DICHORISANDRA SAUNDERSII. 
Native of Brazil. 
Nat. Ord. ComMMELYNE A. 
Genus Dicuorisanpra, Mikan; (Mart. et Seubert, Flor. Bras., fasc. iv.p. 235). 
Dicnortsanpra Saundersii ; caule gracili terete piloso, foliis subdistichis 
elongato-lanceolatis longe acuminatis ciliatis basi in vaginam brevem 
ciliatam vix tumidam abrupte attenuatis, inflorescentia terminali, flori- 
bus in racemum densum subcapitatum confertis brevissime pedicellatis, 
2 poll. diametro, pedicellis sepalisque oblongis obtusis glabris, petalis 
obovatis apice rotundatis sepalis ter majoribus violaceis, staminibus 6 
subequalibus, filamentis crassis antheris linearibus brevioribus, ovario 
glabro. 
I have searched in vain amongst the published species of 
Dichorisandra for this pretty species. About thirty species of 
the genus are known, most of them, like D. Saundersi, are 
Brazilian, and amongst them D. gracilis, Nees et Mart. 
approaches nearest to this in character, but differs in its small 
flowers and pubescent inflorescence, as well as in having three 
stamens with long anthers and short filaments, and the other 
three with short anthers and long filaments. The other 
species of the genus figured in this work are D. oxypetala, 
Hook. (Tab. 2721), D. leucophthalmos, Hook. (Tab. 4733) 
which has radical inflorescence, and D. picta, Lodd. (Tab. 
4760), all very different from this. : ; 
Dichorisandra Saundersii was introduced from Brazil by 
W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., and given by him to Kew, 
where it flowered in July, 1873; it forms a pretty stove 
plant about three feet high. ; 
Descr. Stem two to three feet high, slender, very sparingly 
branched ; branches slender, cylindrical, terete, pilose, as are 
the sheaths, with slender ascending hairs. Leaves five to six 
inches long, numerous, sub-bifarious, lanceolate, long-acumi- 
nate, recurved for the most part, 5-nerved, dark green, 
suddenly contracted at the base into the sheath, margins 
recurved in the lower part, pale beneath ; sheaths a quarter to 
one-third of an inch long, hardly tumid, green, mouth rounded. 
MAY Ist, 1875. 
