118 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 



d'\ 



not quite so thick in texture ; they are smooth, somewhat undu- 

 lating on the margins, 7 to 10 inches long, and 3 to ^~ inches 

 broad, on a very short, channelled and rugous petiole, about 3 

 lines in length ; the raceme is distantly extra-axillary, and in- 

 serted on the opposite side of the stem, as in the former species ; 

 it is 12 or 13 inches long, very slender, slightly pubescent and 

 angular at base, for the length of about 3 inches, and in the 

 remainder is glabrous and beset with alternate nodules, consist- 

 ing of single or aggregated, very short pedicels, left bare by the 

 falling away of all the articulated flowers. The fruit, according 

 to Dr. VogeFs notes, is red, fleshy, oval and pendulous, and 

 from his rough sketch of a transverse section it would appear to 

 be somewhat compressed and to contain two seeds : if this be 

 the case, it would bear out a still stronger analogy to the in- 

 stance I have recorded in Pennantia *. 



3. Sarcostigma Horsfieldii, R. Br. PI. Jav. Rarior. 241. tab. 47. 

 ' — Java. 



^ ; DiSCOPHORA. 



^; The characters that warrant the estabhshment of this genus 

 are few, but when taken in conjunction with the peculiar habit 

 of the plant and the difierent country of its origin, they serve to 

 mark its place. The specimen upon which it is founded is a 

 native of Guiana, with ovuligerous flowers which are far ad- 

 vanced, for the petals and stamens are fallen away, leaving only 

 the calyx and ovarium, which is crowned with a discoid process : 

 in the internal structure of the ovarium, and the form of its per- 

 sistent calyx, articulated on its pedicel, it is strictly conformable 

 with other genera of this family; and in the peltoid disk that 

 crowns the ovarium it resembles Sarcostigma, Pennantia, and 

 StemonuruSy all of Asiatic origin ; but in this case this process is 

 much smaller and somewhat reniform. In one instance 1 found 

 a single petal remaining, just sufficient to mark its character. As 

 it cannot be referred to any one of the genera above mentioned, 

 I propose to call it Discophora, from hlaKo^, discus, (f>ep(o,fero. 

 The few characters known may be designated in the following 

 manner : — 'o '^-^b 



DiSCOPHORA, gen. nov. — Calyoc minimus, brevissime cupuli- 

 formis, fere integer, obsolete 5-denticulatus, persistens. Pe- 

 tola 5, linearia, glaberrima, textura tenui, nervo mediano lon- 

 gitudinali notata, cito caduca. Stamina ignota, mox decidua. 

 Ovarium liberum, cyhndricum, glabrum, 1-loculare; ovula 2, 

 juxta apicem loculi superposita, podospermio crasso subcolla- 



* This plant will be figured in plate 19 of the ' Contributions to Botany,' 



