49 
divaricato-dichotomi, articulati. Bracreæ minute, carnose, infra divisuras opposite, iisdem adpresse, lanceolate, ciliatæ, carinatze 
persistentes. Frores parvi, e luteo fuscescentes, foetorem Stapeliæ spargentes, fasciculati, gemini ternive, suffulti pedicello pouki 
brevi, subolmajo; hasi- pari bracteolarum emarcescentium, vel duabus decussantibus munito; æstivatione ovati, obtusi, til olii 
imbricefl, CALYX pios, 5-partitus, plano-patens, fuscescens ; laciniæ ovate, carnose, acute, pilis albis, brevibus ciliatee, basi imbri- 
conten, intòs ad fundum enyen granulis minutis, succulentis, solitariis, cum laciniis alternantibus. CoroLLa plana, rotata, 5-partita : 
lacinice ovate, obtusæ, leviter oblique, subtüs glabre, suprà hinc (ad latus nempe interius dimidium) nudæ, indè purpurascentes pilisque 
longis, rectis, mollissimis, candidis barbatæ ; faux notata tuberculis 5 parvulis, laciniis alternantibus, singulis gerentibus filum erectum, 
stamini oppositum, eoque duplò longius, apice retrorsòm curvatum, hamosum. STAMINA 5 erecta, distincta, glabra; filamenta perquam 
brevia, planiuscula, fauci corolla intra tubercula inserta; antheræ magne, ovatæ, carnosæ, parúm distantes, apiculà terminatæ brevi, 
latiusculà, lanceolatå, angulo recto super verticem stigmatis inflexå, intüs mediò stigmatis basi adglutinatze, margine utroque longi- 
tudinalitèr dehiscentes ; locula parüm introrsùm versa, membranà albå, crenulatá marginata, medio subcontracta. Mass POLLINIS 20, 
minutissimæ, sphæricæ, albæ, granulosæ, quarum 2 vel 3 demüm apici retinaculi singuli adglutinatæ, reliquæ angulo superiore vel inferiore 
loculiseepiús retentæ. Ovaria 2, arctissimè invicem cohaerentia, oblongo-ovata, levia, utrinque lineå inscripta verticali, 1-locularia ; 
ovula plurima, placentæ centrali adfixa. SryLus filiformis, longiusculus. SriGma magnum, carnosum, ovatum, basi truncata 5-angulare, 
lateribus convexis, apice acuto indiviso. RETINACULA 5, angulis stigmatis parallela, capillacea, fusca, exsulca, basi glandulå albå, minutå, 
capitatå angulis stigmatis basis adfixa, apice plano-dilatata, ovata, obtusa. Forrrcuur 2, carnosi, leves, 3-pollicares, divaricato-paten- 
tissimi, ovati, apice rostrato-acuti et uncinati, subtås ventricoso-gibbosi, subcostati, suprà notati areå plano-convexá, margine crasso, 
incurvo circumdatá, medio rimå longitudinali dehiscentes. ^ REcEPrAcULUM magnum, fungosum, suture adfixum, obliqué ovatum, 
subcultriforme, demòm liberum. SEMINA plura, inversa, retrorsüm imbricata, plana, bracteiformia, obovata, fusca, fer? pollicaria, obtusa, 
deorsúm attenuata, margine tenuissimo, subscindente, basi acutå munita comå grossiusculá, parcà, sericea, ab umbilico retrorsòm flexå, 
marginibusque laxè adhærente, vix ultra medium seminis ad oppositam ejus extremitatem excurrente. STRUCTURA inferior omninò ut in 
cæteris Asclepiadeis. 
The flowers of this curious plant are so small that I have found it exceedingly difficult to trace the structure of 
their very minute organs of fructification. “The column is almost globular, and is surrounded with five extremely 
delicate, white, erect, very slightly converging threads, which are twice its length, and bent back at the apex so as to 
form a small hook. Stamens perfectly distinct and somewhat remote from each other; filaments very short; anthers 
large, adhering with their centre to the middle of the stigma, and bursting inwardly along each margin ; their apices 
broadish and bent down upon the stigma, which they almost conceal; the cells are narrow, membrane-margined, slightly 
contracted in the middle, each containing four most minute, globular, white, granular pollen-masses. Ovarium 
single; style slender, longish ; stigma large and fleshy, ovate, with convex sides and five-cornered truncate base ; its 
apex acute and undivided. Retinacles five, longish, flattened, linear, almost capillary, of a shining brown colour ; 
they are attached with their base to the corners of the base of the stigma by means of a white, soft, and spherical 
gland ; they rest loosely on the obtuse angles of the stigma, extending as far as their middle, and are visible between 
the anthers; their apex is flattened, of an obovate, obtuse shape. As soon as the cells of the anthers burst, one of 
the two pollen-masses contained in each escapes and adheres to the upper or broad part of the retinacle, while the 
other is sometimes found remaining in the cell towards its upper end. “The follicles are divaricate, of a ventricose 
ovate form, perfectly smooth. “They burst along the upper or less convex side, where they are surrounded by an 
elevated incurved ridge or margin. The seeds are large, flat, obovate, elegantly imbricate ; they appear to be naked, but 
on being detached from their fleshy placenta, a few silky whitish fibres are seen proceeding backwards from their acute 
umbilicus, parallel to the margins and closely adhering to these, some of the fibres reaching almost as far as the oppo- 
site or obtuse end of the seed. 
Our plant agrees in several respects with Cryptostegia, Brown in Botan. Register, vol. 5. n. 435. (Nerium grandi- 
florum, Roxb.), and together with that genus connects the Asclepiadeæ with the Apocynea. Both are farnished with five 
appendages, rising from the throat of the corolla, opposite the stamens, alternating with the laciniæ, and with bilocular 
stamens adhering to the sides of the stigma. The retinacles exist in both, and resemble each other in general figure 
and position ; but instead of being free, as in our shrub, the upper broad end adheres in Cryptostegia to the margins 
of the anthers; and the glandular knob by which they are attached to the stigma in our plant, is in that supplied by a 
linear process which is elongated vertically at both ends. But the great difference consists in the nature of the pollen, 
which in Cryptostégia continues always a homogeneous substance, whereas in our plant it is condensed into twenty 
globular masses. To this curious structure of the flower of Nerium grandiflorum I adverted in a paper, presented 
to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta in 1815 and printed in 1816, (see Asiatic Researches, vol. 12. p. 568, note at 
the bottom); so that I may, in this single instance, boast of having preceded the most eminent of all botanists in the 
announcement of a novel structure in the Asclepiadeæ. Indeed, we have both been preceded by Dr. Roxburgh, who 
distinctly alludes to these retinacles in his manuscript Flora Indica quoted in the Botanical Register. It is remark- 
able that these retinacles appear at a much later period than in any other member of the family, either observed by 
Mr. Brown or myself; even shortly betore the expansion of the corolla they are only indicated by a small linear 
milk-white body between the swelled margins of the anthers. ; | 
I have dedicated this new and remarkable genus to the memory of my very dear friend George Finlayson, Esq. 
Vor. II. > O 
