10 Mr. J. Miers on the Tribe Colleticsc. 



foliorum nodosis ; foliis oppositis, parvis, obcordatis, api- 

 cem versus rotundatis, profunde retusis et mucronatis, e 

 medio in petiolum brevern cuneatis, integerrimis, crassis, 

 nervis immersis, utrinque glabris et pallidis, caducis; flori- 

 bus sparsis, viridibus, 5-meris ; petalis bilobis, squamse- 

 formibus, filamentis brevissimis ; ovario glabro, 2- (vel 3- ?) 

 loculari; fructu obovato-rotundo, compressiusculo, calyce 

 parvo suffulto, laevi, parce carnoso, 2-loculari, loculo abortivo 

 ssepe unilocular]. — Ecuador ad Guayaquil. — v. s. in herb. Mus. 

 Paris. (Bonpland). 



I have examined the original specimen of this plant, described 

 by Kunth, which is in a very unsatisfactory condition : the two 

 loose leaves that accompany it, certainly do not belong to it as 

 that able botanist suspected. Bonpland related, in his notes, 

 that they were alternate ; but the cicatrices on the branches show 

 them to have been opposite, which is confirmed by the specific 

 name given to it by the authors of the f Flora Peruviana/ in- 

 dicating that both the leaves and spinescent branchlets are 

 decussately opposite. The axils of the secondary branchlets are 

 about | inch apart ; those of the tertiary branchlets or ramiform 

 spines, which are 1J to 2 inches in length, are about 4 lines 

 apart, these branchlets being quite square, with prominent de- 

 current angles. The loose leaves described by Kunth, with their 

 short petiole, are 1J inch long and 10 lines broad, and evidently 

 belong to some other plant. I found a few of the real leaves 

 still remaining ; they are very small, being only 3 lines long 

 and 3 lines broad, on a petiole J line in length : these, on ac- 

 count of their minuteness, had been overlooked by that botanist. 

 The flowers are small, and almost sessile. Kunth was correct in 

 his opinion that this species and his Rhamnus senticosa are con- 

 generic, and that neither of them really belong to Rhamnus*. 



2. Scypharia parviflora ; — Discaria parviflora, Hook. fil. Linn. 

 Trans, xx. 229; — suffruticosa, intricata, ramis ramulisque 

 strictis, tetragonis, compressis, subaphyllis, crebre spinescen- 

 tibus ; spinis decussatim oppositis, longissimis, horizontaliter 

 patentibus, striatulis, calloso-pungentibus, internodiis spinis 

 5-plo brevioribus; foliis oppositis, oblongo-obovatis oblongisve, 

 utrinque obtusis, apice mucronulatis, integerrimis, caducis, 

 opacis, supra viridibus, subtus cuticula resinoso-crustacea 

 glaucis, glabris, pinnato-nervosis, nervibus omnino immersis, 

 petiolo brevissimo, subtereti, superne canaliculato ; floribus 

 sparsis, minutis, solitariis, binisve, subsessilibus, 5-meris ; 

 petalis 2-fidis, latissime spathulatis, ungue brevi; ovario 



* A representation of this species will be found in Plate 42 a of the 

 ' Contributions.' 



