OF THE MATTO GROSSO EXPEDITION, 1891-92. 409 
margine parallele, fere rectee, superiores fornicate ascendentes, deinde undulatim 
conjunctee, venulz obscurissime, arcte reticulate. Pedunculi nutantes, puberuli, 
sursum ampliati, 0:2-0:3 cm. long. Bractez subulatee, puberulee, 0°15 cm. long. 
Flores albi, limbi lobi margine dilute citrini. Calyx totus 0°3 cm. long. et lat., sub- 
campanulatus, puberulus; lobi acuti vel acuminati, ciliolato-fimbriolati, minute 
nervosi, 0:25 cm. long. Corolla in toto 0'8 em. long., antice palato satis prominulo 
instructa, extus et intus minutissime pubescens; tubus 0°5 cm. lat., basi vero 
usque ad 0'3 cm. angustatus, limbi vix 0'7 cm. diam., labium posticum circa 
0:3 lat.; labii antici lobi laterales 0:22 cm. lat., 0:18 cm. long. lobus anticus 
0:15-0:2 em. lat, 0:2-0:3 cm. long. lobi omnes obtusi vel leviter emarginati. 
Filamenta incrassata, complanata, basi parum curvata, puberula, longiora 0:3 em., 
breviora paullo ultra 0:2 cm. long. Antherz 0'2 cm. lat, puberule. —Pollinis 
grana leevia, trigono-ellipsoidea, poris tribus induta. Ovarium ovoideo-oblongum, 
sursum attenuatum, glabrum, 0:08 em. long. Stylus incurvus, complanatus, glaber, 
0:4 em. long. 
The affinity of Desdemona is nato with Scrophulariacee ; its habit, its sestiva- 
tion, the bilabiate corolla, and the stamens all support this conclusion ; but the placenta- 
tion is highly remarkable. Solitary or binary ovules are rare in the order ; according to 
Bentham, two-ovuled cells are found only in Leptorhabdis, Melampyrum, Tozzia, and 
a few species of Veronica, while Tonella may have one, two, or three ovules in its cells. 
In these cases, however, the ovule is fixed to the septum, not pendulous from the top 
of the cell, and in other respects all the above genera are markedly different from 
Desdemona. The general appearance at first suggested Solanacee, and there is a 
remarkable South-American genus, Selerophylax of Miers, which that botanist himself, 
and it must be confessed not without reason, considered to be the type of a distinct 
order, which he proposed to call Sclerophylacee. The chief peculiarity of Sclerophylax 
lies in its possession of uniovulate ovarian cells, the ovules being pendulous from the 
top of the cell. This genus is placed in the ‘Genera Plantarum’ at the end of Solanacee 
with the remark—‘ Genus in ordine ab ovarii loculis 1-ovulatis valde anomalum, czetera 
tamen Solanaceis multo melius quam ulli alii ordini conveniunt."  Precisely the same 
observation will apply to Desdemona, substituting ** Scrophulariaceis ” for “ Solanaceis ” 
of the just-quoted passage. 
The habit of our plant is much that of the Brazilian J/defonsia, though there are 
many points of difference between the two, Jidefonsia having a staminode and a bifid 
stigma, with normal placentation and a many-seeded capsule. Judging from appear- 
ances, the fruit of Desdemona is most probably baccate, as is the case with Halleria 
and a few other genera, of which Lewcocarpus and Dermatocalyx alone are American; 
but the berry of both these is many-seeded. 
Among Solanacee, the affinity of the present genus is closest with the Salpiglosside, 
the tribe which has repeatedly been bandied about from Scrophulariacee to Solanacee 
and back again; but of the plicate or induplicate or valvate «estivation of Salpiglosside 
I find no trace, and their placentation is entirely different. Moreover, except for its 
placentation, Sclerophylax has nothing in common with Desdemona. Any external 
SECOND SERIES.—BOTANY, VOL. IV. 3H 
