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XIX. On a new Genus of Plants of the Family o/Burmanniacese. 

 By John Miers, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. S;c. 



Read April 20th, 1847. 



I HE curious little rhizomatous plant that forms the subject of the present 

 notice is a native of Brazil, and is the more deserving of attention on account 

 of its close relation to another not less singular plant lately found in a very 

 opposite quarter of the world : but before offering any remarks on its affini- 

 ties, I vi'ill present an outline of its generic features. The name by which I 

 propose to distinguish it is Ophidmeris, from o^tc, serpens, fxeplc, membrum, on 

 account of the serpentine shape of the interior segments of its perianthium, 

 which assume very much the same form as those of the remarkable genus 

 Triuris, the details of which have been honoured with a place in the Society's 

 Transactions *. 



Ophiomeris. 



Char. Diff. Perianthium superum, tubulosum, gibbosum, caducum ; fauce lateral! annulo 

 semiclausa ; limbo 6-partito, laciniis 3 exterioribus brevibus ovatis, 3 interioribus lon- 

 gissimis subulatis. Stamina 6, libera, infra perianthii faucem inserta et ejus laciniis 

 opposita, inclusa, versus tubum retroflexa; filamentis petaloideis expansis, margine 

 appendiculatis ; antheris adnatis, in sinu filamentorum terminalibus, 2-locularibus, 

 loculis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarium inferum, 1-loculare ; placentis 3 parie- 

 talibus, medio ovuligeris, ovulis indefinitis anatropis. Stylus brevis. Stigmata 3. 

 Fructzis turbinatus, truncatus, apice operculatim dehiscens, 1-locularis. Semina plu- 

 rima scobiformia. Embryo ignotus. 



Char. Nat. Perianthium monophyllum, petaloideum, tubulosum, imo ovario adnatum, de- 

 miim circumscissum et deciduum, tubo lineis 6 notato, ventricoso, valde gibboso, fauce 

 fere laterali valde contracta, corona depressa annulari, margine integro colorato ; limbi 

 laciniis 6, in duplici serie, inaequalibus ; 3 exterioribus (sepalis) obovatis, obtusis, reflexo- 

 patentibus, aestivatione subimbricatis ; 3 alternis (petalis) angustioribus tereti-subulatis, 



* Trans. Linn. Soc. xix. p. 77. > 



