COLLECTED BY MR. SPRUCE. 18 
The remaining species all belong to the tribe of Dictyostegee, esta- 
blished by Miers in the 18th volume of the Transactions of the Lin- 
nean Society, and distinguished from the true Burmannias by the 
parietal placentation, showing however in all other respects too great 
an affinity to that genus to be separated otherwise than as a distinct 
tribe of the same Natural Order. Two of Mr. Spruce’s are included in 
Mr. Miers’ monograph ; the other seven constitute a new and very curi- 
ous genus, which, notwithstanding the abundance of specimens in the 
district visited by Mr. Spruce, appears to have escaped the notice of 
most other collectors, as I can neither find any record of it in any pub- 
lished work, nor any specimens in our herbaria, excepting two or three 
of one of the species described below, mixed with a Dictyostega, among 
Purdie’s New Granada plants. 
The following are the Dictyostegee of Mr. Spruce’s collection :— 
l. Apteria setacea, Nutt.— 4A. lilacina, Miers, in Linn. Trans. vol. xviii. 
p. 546.— 4. hymenanthera, Miq. Stirp. Surin. p. 216. 
I can perceive no difference in the specimens from North America, 
» from Mexico, Jamaica, Surinam, New Granada, and various parts of 
| Brazil, except in the size of the plant, and especially of the flowers, 
but that varies in different specimens from the same localities. The 
| anthers appear to me to be the same in all that I have examined, al- 
| though differently described and figured by different writers; which — 
| may be owing to the different stages of growth in which they may 
| have been examined, as well as to the great nicety required in ascertain- 
| 
ing the exact forms of these exceedingly delicate flowers from dried 
specimens. Mr. Spruce's were gathered on inundated sandy islands, 
among roots of trees at the falls of San Gabriel, on the Rio Negro, 
and again in a similar situation near Panuré, on the Uaupés. They 
| have mostly large flowers, from 6 to 8 or even 9 lines in length, espe- 
| cially those from San Gabriel. In the Uaupés specimens the flowers 
| are generally rather under 6 lines. 
2. Dictyostega Schomburgkiana, Miers, var. parviflora. 
| ae On tree-roots in the shady woods of the Uaupés. I can find no — 
= other difference between these and Schomburgk's specimens, than the — 
small size of the flowers, and more slender growth. The shape of the — 
flowers is indeed the same in both as in the common D. orobanchioides, — 
of which it may ultimately prove to be a mere variety; and even the D. - 
umbellata, Miers, may be no more than the same plant in a very young _ 
state. The D. costata, Miers, is unknown to me. The tropical African — 
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