Tas. 7645. 
GYNOPLEURA HUMILIS. 
Native of Chili. 
Nat. Ord. PassiFLoREx%.—Tribe MaLEsHERBIE®. 
Genus Gynopteura, Cav.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 810.) 
GynopLevra Aumilis; herba annua, humilis, gracilis, patentim ramosissima, 
foliosa, pubescens, foliis pollicaribus obovato-oblongis obtusis grosse 
crenato-serratis utrinque pubescentibus v. villosis, basi angustatis vix — 
a" pallide viridibus, foribus ad apices ramulorum subcorymbosis 
reviter pedicellatis % poll. diam., calycis sericeo-villosi tubo dilatato, 
lobis oblongis obtusis rubro striatis, petalis calycis lobis aquilongis late 
ovatis subacutis albis, corona faucem calycis coronante brevi crenata, 
gynophoro cylindraceo, filamentis elongatis, ovario ellipsoideo hirsuto. 
G. humilis, Roem. Syn. Pepon. p. 211. 
G. dilatata, Walp. Rep. vol. ii. p. 223. 
Malesherbia humilis, D. Don in Edinb. N. Phil. Journ. 1831-2, p. 111. Hook. 
et Arn. in Hook. Bot. Miscell. vol. iii. p. 327. OC. Gay, Flor. Chilen. vol. ii. 
p. 425. 
M. dilatata, Phil. f. Cat. Pl. Vase. Chil. p. 81. 
The small genus Gynopleura inhabits the dry Sierras of 
Peru and Chili. G. humilis has a wide range in distribu- 
tion, chiefly along the seaward ranges of the Andes, from 
the neighbourhood of Arica in S. Peru (lat. 183° 8.) to 
Concepcion in Chili (lat. 37° S.), and probably further in 
both directions. Even the desert of Atacama is not too 
dry for it. There it forms hemispherical masses a foot 
in diameter. Only one species has previously been figured 
from living specimens, namely G. linearifolia, Cav., tab. 
3362 of this work, where it is described under the generic 
name of Malesherbia, with which Gynopleura had been 
confounded. 
The plant here figured was raised from seeds sent to the 
Royal Gardens, Kew, from the Botanic Garden of San- 
tiago in Chili, in 1898. It flowered in the herbaceous 
ground in September of the same year. 
Descr.—A low growing, excessively branched, slender, 
leafy, pubescent or villous annual. Leaves about an inch 
long, obovate-oblong, obtuse, coarsely crenate-serrate, 
narrowed to the base, but hardly petioled, pale green, 
Marcu Ist, 1899. 
