178 CONTRIBUTIONS TO 



basi dilatata, superne filiformia, glabra ; anthera cordatae, 

 ovatee, basifixae, longitudinaliter dehiscentes. Ovarium 

 ovatum, breviter stipitatum, disco annulari crenato striate 

 sessum, cyatho persistente (corollse reliquo) demumclau- 

 sum, 2-loculare, ovulis plurimis, dissepimento utrinque 

 adnatis. Stylus simplex, exsertus. Stigma incrassatum, 

 lamellis 2 carnosis agglutinatis. Capsula ovata, 2-locularis, 

 2-valvis, valvis fere 2-fidis, dissepimento deraurn libero 

 medio placentifero parallelis, incrassato. Semina plurima, 

 angulato-ovata, sinu ventrali excavata, hinc supra medium 

 hilo parvo notata, testa tuberculata, striatulis transversis 

 reticularis signata. Embryo in axi albuminis carnosi fere 

 omnino rectus, cotyledonibus 2, rarissime 3, parvis, sub- 

 corapressis, radicula tereti infera sub-latioribus, et 3-plo 

 brevioribus. — Frutex Chilensis erectus ramosus, Cestn 

 fades ; foliis alternis,petiolatis, integerrimis. glabris ; floribus 

 e summis alts subracemosis, pedicellis medio articulatis et 

 hinc bractea foliosa decidua instructis, nuiantibus. 

 1. Vestia lycioides, Wild. Cantua ligustrifolia, Juss. Cantua 

 fcetida, Pers. Periphragmos fcetidus, R. et P. Flor. Peruv. 

 2. 7. tab. 132: — foliis obovatis vel lanceolato-ellipticis, 

 basi in petiolum brevem decurrentibus, carnosis, eveniis, 

 glaberrimis ; corolla viridi-flava, limbo subviolaceo. — Chile, 

 (Valparaiso et Concepcion.) ' 



This shrub grows in the neighbourhood of the saline lake 

 of Bucalemu, about sixty miles to the southward of Valpa- 

 raiso, on the opposite side of the river Maypu, where it is 

 called Porotillos. It abounds also in Concepcion, where 

 according to Ruiz and Pavon, it is known by the name of 

 Gnevil guevil. It is much branched, with dense foliage : the 

 leaves being somewhat fleshy, veinless, about ll — 2 inches 

 long, £ in. broad, tapering into a short petiole, the uppe r 

 surface is smooth, channelled in the midrib, which is promi- 

 nent below. The flowers appear on the termination of sflial 

 branchlets, the pedicel is articulated in the middle, where a 

 small lanceolate leaf-like deciduous bract is seen, and i 

 becomes denexed, giving a pendent position to the flower. 



