C 559 3 



Massonia Muricata. Prickly-Leaved 

 Massonia. 



Clafs and Order. 



HeXANDRIA MoNOCYXlA. 



Generic Character, 



Cor. infera limbo fexpartito. Filamenta collo tubi impofita, 

 Cap/. 3-alata, 3-locularis, polyfperma. 



Specific Charatler and Synonyms. 



MASSONIA muricata; foliis fubrotundis verfas apicem fu- 

 perne muricatis nudis, corymbo compa&o brac- 

 teato, ftaminibus fauce elevata infidentibus. G. 



Desc. Stem fcarcely above the ground. Leaves fmootb, 

 lucid, thinly befet with thorn-like excrefcencies on the upper 

 lurface towards the point, with parallel furrows converging at 

 each end. Pedicels thick, fcarce half an inch long. Bracles 

 elliptic, nearly the length or longer than the flowers, outer 

 hrgeft, entirely furrounding the corymb. Tube about equaL 

 J° the ftamens, nearly twice the length of the fegments, which 

 taft are flaccid with a tranfverfe plait at their bafe, opaque 

 Vellowifh white, faux fomewhat cupped, pellucid, tinged with 

 bluifh-green, brimful of ne&areous liquid ; Jlamens upright, 

 arranged in a campanulate circumference, white, with tumid 

 a *ure bafes. The infertion of the filaments may be here called 

 Mediate, in Massonia enfifolia immediate. 



The corolla of this genus feems to have afforded as many 

 aijtinft conceptions of its ftru&ure as it has been defcribed by 

 dl «erent Botanifts. Thunberg confiders it as hexapetalous, 

 *£ e fegments as petals attached to the tube, his neftary 

 (nence moft probably his ejeaion of Massonia enftfolia). 

 Jacquin terms only the naked part on w r hich the filaments 

 * re feated the nectary, and defcribes it as a mort marginal 



crowa 



