COLLECTED BY Mil. SPKUCE, 325 



caria, are numei'oiis, and have been distributed into a number of genera, 

 upon characters so minute, that when a new one presents itself, it is a 

 great chance if it will be found to fit into any of them. Thus it is 

 with the only species contained in Mr. Spruce's collection. In foliage 

 it comes nearest to the Gussonia discolor; in character it is very near 

 to Gtissoniay Seiastiania, Dactylostemon^ and especially to GymnantJies, 

 although it differs from that genus, as limited by Klotzsch, in that it 

 is only the central flowers (or bundle of stamens) of each bract that 

 has a small scale at the ramification of the filament. I have not either 

 been able to find any female flowers in the specimens before me, so 

 that the plant may be dioecious. I cannot, however, on such slight 

 grounds, propose a new genus for its reception, and therefore place it 

 in Gymnanthes^ to which it comes nearest, and which, being the oldest 

 name, would be the one adopted, should several of these closely-aUied 

 genera be re-united into one. This new G. Jiypoleuca was found by 

 Mr. Spruce, growing commonly on the banks of the upper Eio Negro, 

 between San Joaquim and San Carlos, and also on the Eio Uaupes. 

 The following are its characters : 



G, Tiypoleuca^ sp. n. ; foliis elliptico- v. lanceolato-oblongis supra glabris 

 subtus albidis, spicis masculis pluribus confertis petiolo vix longiori- 

 bus, squamis trifloris, flore medio triandro sub ramificatione squamel- 

 lato, lateralibus diandris nudis. — Arbor 18-pedalis, ramulis tenuibus 

 griseis. Folia 3-5 poll, longa, 1-3 poll, lata, acuminata, integer- 

 lima, basi acuta, chartacea, penninervia, subtus tomento minutissimo 

 pulveraceo albicantia et glandulis maculseformibus paucis praesertim 

 basi conspersa, petiolo 3-4 lin. longo. Bpicm mascula in quoque 

 axilla 3-6, sessiles, glabrse, squamis parvis latis concavis. Tilamenta 

 graciliora et autherae minores quam in G, lucida. Mores fcemineos 

 non vidi. 



MlCROSTACHYS, A, Ju8s. (Cnemtdostoc/iys, Mart.) 



Mr. Spruce has two species of this genus ; the one from Santarem, 

 distributed as new, may possibly be a mere variety of the 3L crotonoides, 

 Kl. {CnemidostacJiys crotonoides, Mart.), which appears to be a rather 

 widely diffused and variable species. It is a slender dichotomous 

 shrub or under-shrub, of five or six feet in height. The other one, an 

 erect annual from the waste grounds near Para (but not gathered in 

 sufficient quantity for general distribution), is allied to the J/, GuiaTiensis, 



