Melinla. ASCLEPIADACE^E. 101 



10-20-flowered, somewhat paniculate or racemiform : flowers greenish-white, hardly 3 lines 

 in diameter : corolla-lobes oblong, thickish-edged : divisions of the crown short (hardly at 

 all exceeding the anthers), merely and ohtusely 3-lobed at the apex ; the middle lobe at 

 most twice the length of the lateral ones, obtuse or onarginate : follicles oblong, thick, 3 

 or 4 inches long. Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 160. Gonolobus uniritriits, Scheele in Linn. xxi. 

 760, the insignificant specific name from the pubescence in a line down the stem, in a 

 manner most common in the order. Along streams, Texas, Lindfieituer, Wriijht, &c. 



12. METASTELMA, R. Br. (Formed of /IET, change of, and are/lpa, 

 girdle or crown, having o processes or scales in place of the ordinary crown.) 

 Twining perennial herbs or somewhat woody plants (American and mainly 

 tropical), usually slender, and with small opposite leaves. Flowers small in 

 axillary umbelliform clusters, white or sometimes greenish. 



1. EUMETASTELMA, Benth. & Hook. Crown borne on the base of the 

 corolla or of the short or else obsolete column. 



M. FRASERI, Decaisne in DC. Prodr. viii. 513, " Carolina ? Fraser," was probably West 

 Indian, perhaps same as M. albiflorum, Griseb., doubtless not Carolinian. 



M. barbigermn, Scheele. Glabrous : stems slender : leaves from ovate-oblong to nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, cuspidate-acuminate, rounded at base, glandular at base of midrib : 

 peduncles shorter than the petiole and the 3 to 5 pedicels, often very short : corolla (nearly 

 2 lines long, greenish outside), 5-partcd ; the lobes linear and strongly white-villous inside : 

 scales of the crown slender-subulate, on the base of the corolla, a little surpassing the 

 anthers: column extremely short. Linn. xxi. 700; Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 159. Open 

 woods and rocky banks, Texas. (Adjacent Mex.) 



M. Blodgettii, Gray. Nearly glabrous : stems filiform : leaves narrowly lanceolate, very 

 acute (half inch or more long, a line or so wide), rounded at base, short-petioled : peduncle 

 very short or obsolete, 3-6-flowered : pedicels about the length of the flower (one line) : 

 corolla cleft almost to base ; the lobes oblong-lanceolate, within densely penicillate-bearded 

 just below the apex, glabrous or with a few sparse hairs below : scales of the crown 

 slender-subulate, inserted on the base of the corolla, half the length of its lobes, hardly 

 surpassing the anthers : column distinct but shorter than the anthers. Proc. Am. Acad. 

 xii. 73. M. i><m-{f1onii, Chapm. Fl. 367, not R. Br. Pine Key, S. Florida, Blodtjctt. (Prob- 

 ably also W. Indian.) 

 M. CALIFORNICUM, Benth. Sulph. 33, t. 18, is from Bay of Magdalena, Lower California, 



nearly under the tropic. 



2. EriciON, Griseb. Crown borne on the summit of the elongated column 



O 



close to the anthers. 



M. Bahamense, Griseb. Nearly glabrous : leaves round-oval to oblong (an inch or 

 less long), mucronate-cuspidate, slender-pctioled : peduncles equaling or slightly surpassing 

 the petiole, 3-6-flowered : corolla 2 lines long, campanulate ; the lobes ovate-oblong, densely 

 puberulent along the broad thickened margins : column 3 or 4 times the length of the 

 anthers, 5-wing-angled at base : scales of the crown oblong-falcate, laterally compressed 

 and internally carinate, equalling the anthers. Cat. C'ubens. 174. .17. (Jtibense, Griseb. 

 Fl. W. Ind. 417, not Decaisne. M. Schlechtendalii, Chapm. Fl. 366, not Decaisne. Keys of 

 Florida, Blod/jett. (Bahamas.) 



13. MELiNIA, Decaisne. (From fii'^.i.vog, yellowish, the color of the small 

 flowers.) Two or three extra-tropical S. American species, which have cordate 

 leaves and slender peduncles ; to which is appended the following, doubtfully, for 

 its habit is that of Metastelma. 



M. angustif 61ia, Gray. Nearly glabrous : stems filiform, branching from a ligneous base, 

 a foot or two long, spreading, more or less twining: leaves opposite, narrowly linear (9 to 

 20 lines long, a line or less wide), acute, distinctly petioled : peduncles 1-2-flowered, hardly 

 longer than the flowers : calyx-segments lanceolate-acuminate, nearly equalling the cam- 

 panulate 5-parted corolla : scales of the crown spatulate-oblong, nearly plane, half the 



