Tas. 7953. 
MARSDEN TA IMTHURNII. 
Native of British Guiana. 
Nat. Ord, AscLeprapacea.— Tribe MARSDENIEX, 
Genns Marspenta, R. Br.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 772.) 
MarspEnia Jmthurnii; frutex alte volubilis, M. maculats, Hook. et M. Bur- 
chelii, Fourn., affinis, a priore foliis immaculatis, a posteriore foribus 
majoribus, pedicellis longioribus differt, caulibus teretibus primaom 
appresse pubescentibus florigeris circiter 3 lin. diametro, internodiis quam 
foliis brevioribus, foliis oppositis longe petiolatis crassiusculis primum 
mollibus cordatis interdum medio constrictis in ramis florigeris cum 
petiolo 6-9 poll. longis maximis 4 poll. latis abrupte acuminatis utrinque 
precipue subtus primum appresse pubescentibus bullatis venis crassius- 
culis subtus elevatis, floribus purpureis 5-6 lin. diametro pubescentibus 
densissime cymoso-umbellatis, cymis axillaribus brevissime pedunculatis 
subglobosis 14-2 poll. diametro, pedicellis pubescentibus 2-3 lin. longis, 
calycis lobis 5 oblongis obtusis corolle tubo saltem dimidio brevioribus, 
corolle extus pubescentis suburceolate tubo. lato limbi Jobis longiore, 
lobis ovato-oblongis rotundatis recurvis, corons squamis 5 erectis 
crassis carnosis ovatis obtuse acuminatis quam staminibus brevioribus, 
polliniis oblongis erectis stipitatis, ovario biloculari multiovulato, fructu 
ignoto. 
_ M. Imthurnii, Hemsl. | 
Like many other genera of the order Asclepiadacex, 
Marsdenia is not very well defined, but there is no doubt 
about the plant figured being a congener of M. maculata, 
Hook. (Bot. Mag. t. 4299), which was founded on a plant 
cultivated at Kew in 1847, received some years previously 
from Santa Martha, Colombia. It is also near the 
Brazilian M, Burchellii, Fourn., and M. mollissima, Fourn. 
As defined in Bentham and Hooker’s ‘ Genera Plantarum,” 
and in Engler and Prantl’s “ Die Natiirlichen Pflanzen-— 
familien,” the genus comprises about sixty species, very 
widely dispersed in tropical countries; and there is an 
outlier, M. erecta, R. Br., native of the eastern Mediter- 
ranean region. M. Inthurnit was raised from seed sent 
from British Guiana to Kew, in 1882, by E. F. im Thurn, 
C.B., C.M.G., now Lieut.-Governor of Ceylon, but formerly 
of the Civil Service in the country named. Mr. im Thurn 
was an ardent investigator of the Natural History of 
British Guiana, and Kew is indebted to him for many 
May Ist,’ 1904. 
