NOTE ON LEONIA CYMOSA. 215 
rique once brought down the Solimões a “ cucha" of Samaüma, about 
twenty-seven feet long, and so thick that in hollowing it out a man 
could work inside it with an adze or a short axe. It held above three 
hundred pots of turtle-oil, each pot twelve frascas or six gallons, and 
therefore in all nearly 2000 gallons. Some time previously he pur- 
chased one ready-made, that had been cut down and hollowed out on 
the banks of the Ucayali, and, though not full, held three hundred 
and seventy-five pots of oil, or somewhere about 2250 gallons ! 
When we arrived here from Santarem, a cucha from the Solimóes en- 
tered the port along with us; it contained two hundred pots of Cu- 
paiiba oil. 
The Samaiima is confined to the vicinity of white waters, and, though 
frequent along the shores of the Amazon, disappears the moment we 
enter the Rio Negro. 
(To be continued.) 
Note on the LEONIA cymosa, Mart.; by GEORGE BENTHAM, Esa. 
The genus Leonia, first established by Ruiz and Pavon (Fl. Per. et 
Chil. vol. ii. p. 69. t. 222), and subsequently characterized in detail by 
Martius (Nov. Gen. et Sp. vol. ii. p. 86. t. 168, 169 et 200), and by Alph. 
De Candolle (Prod. vol. viii. p. 668 in adnot.), has been generally con- 
sidered as monopetalous and exstipulate; and the ternary parietal pla- 
centation being altogether anomalous among Corollifiore, after various at- 
tempts to associate it with Myrsinee, Sapotacee, and Ilicinee, it has been 
finally proposed to abandon all affinities by calling it an Order of itself. 
A careful examination of the specimens in flower and fruit communi- 
cated by Mr. Spruce, of the L. cymosa, induce me to suggest a widely 
different position; slightly indicated indeed by Alph. De Candolle in 
his reference to an affinity with Tetraphylacium ; but not recognized 
hitherto, on account of the supposed absence of stipules. As that 
proves to be a mistake, the plant becomes a genuine Violacea, of the 
tribe Alsodeia. 
The stipules of Leonia cymosa, though small and very deciduous, 
exist in the young shoots, and always leave a permanent scar. The 
foliage is precisely that of an Alsodeia. The petals, but slightly co- 
herent at first, are when the flower is expanded either quite free, or 
