324 NORTH BRAZILIAN EUPHOKBIACE^ 



mentum crassum ovoideo-oblongum. Involucra foeminea per anthesin 

 obovoidea. Ovana in quoque involucro ssepius 8, tomentosa, stig- 

 mate trilobo. Caj)sula 5 lin. diametro, trivalvis, valvulis demiim 

 bifidis. 



Gathered by Mr. Spruce, on the shores of the Lago de Obidos, and 

 distributed as Feridhm, n. 2 ; it much resembles at first sight the P, 

 glahratum of Schott, but the filaments of the males, the number of 

 flowers in the female involucres, as well as the shape and texture of the 

 capsules, readily distinguish it. The fresh involucres are of a bright 

 vermilion, somewhat vellow at the base. The flowers emit a sweet 

 smell of honey. 



SCHISMATOPERA. 



In Mr. Spruce's first Barra collection 1 disti-ibuted a species of this 

 genus as new, under the name of S. laurina; but numerous specimens, 

 subsequently received, have shown that it does not diifer essentially 

 from the original *S'. dldichophylla^ KL, from Guiana, the only species 

 known to me. It is a small tree or shrub, apparently not uncommon 

 in the forest near Barra do Eio Negro. Specimens were also brought 



to Mr. Spruce by the natives of the Eio Uaupes. 



H 



Maprgunea, 



The M, Guiane7isis, Aubl., is a widely distributed shrub or tree, and 

 varies considerably in the shape of the leaves, sometimes sharply acu- 

 minate, sometimes broad and blunt, but never so much so as in the 

 more southern M, Brasiliensis, St. HiL, which latter is likewise always 

 to be distinguished by the almost sessile female flowers. In 3L Giii- 

 anensis they vary in number, from one to three or four below each male 

 amentum, but they are always borne on rather long pedicels. Mr. 

 Spruce gathered the M. Guianensis on the shores of the Amazon, near 

 Santarem, in July, 1850, in the gapo of an igarape, near Barra do Kio 

 Negro, in May, 1851, and on a campo near the falls of San Gabriel, in 

 April, 1852. I have specimens also from British Guiana (Eob. Schom- 

 burgk, 2nd coll. n. 638, Elch. Schomb. n. 1059), Surinam (Hostmann, 

 n. 996), Brazil, prov. Bahia (Blanchet, n. 2725), prov. Ceara (Gardner, 

 n. 1836), and Peru (Matthews, n, 1654). 



Gymnanthes. 

 The American, and especially the Brazilian species, allied to Exca- 



