Mr. J. Miers on the Tribe Colletiese. 203 



e basi lateraliter orta, hinc cursu omnino peripherico apicem 

 transiens, et tune altero latere ad hilum iterum regrediens; 

 integumentum internum prsecedenti laxatum, membranaceum,. 

 subopacum, a medio sensim arctatum, et imo in cerviculam 

 filiformem brevem terminatum, chalaza majuscula carnosa 

 apicali munitum. Embryo intra albumen carnosum inclusus; 

 radicula brevissima, infera, tereti, cotyledonibus carnosis folia- 

 ceis, planis, cordato-ovatis. Suffrutices America? Meridio- 

 nalis, pleruraque extratropicales, intricato-ramosi, subaphylli, 

 ramis decussatim, oppositis, divaricatis ramulis spinescentibus, 

 spinis subulatis saBpe compressis, interdum latissime expansis 

 et decurrentibus ; folia paucissima, minuta, ssepe rudimentaria, 

 opposita, integra ; flores infra spinas orti, albidi vel albido- 

 rosei, pedicellis 1-floris nutantibus. 



1. Colletia spinosa, Lam. Illustr. ii. 90. tab. 129; Diet. Suppl. 

 ii. 312; DC. Prodr. ii. 28. C. horrida, Willd. i. 1113; Vent. 

 Hort. Cels. 92. C. polyacantha, Willd. in R. Sch. v. 113. 

 Rhamnus Yaquil, Domb. MSS. ; spinosissima, ramulis spi- 

 nisque compressis valde striatis, striis in ramulis spiraliter, in 

 spinis recte parallelis, spinis validis, longiusculis, decussatis,. 

 subulatis, apice callo acutissimo rubro terminatis ; foliis parvis, 

 oblongo-ovatis, glaberrimis, integris, aut summum versus den- 

 ticulatis, caducissimis, breviter petiolatis, infra spinas insertis ; 

 floribus solitariis, vel paueis fasciculatis e tuberculo sub 

 spina ortis, pedunculis brevibus reflexis; calyce cylindrico, 

 medio constricto, imo ampliore et subgloboso, limbi laciniis 5, 

 reflexis, acutis, apice callo instructis, staminibus parvulis ore 

 fere sessilibus, filamentis brevissimis deflexis. Buenos Ayres : 

 v. s. in herb. Jussieu, in Mus. Paris (Commerson). 



This species must be considered as the type of the genus 

 which, according to Jussieu (Gen. Plant, p. 380, aim. 1789), was 

 first proposed by Commerson for a plant of his collection, who, 

 however, assigned to it no specific designation : its first name, 

 Colletia spinosa, was given by Lamarck (in 1793), in his ' Illust. 

 Gen/ tab. 129. Willdenow (in 1798) published the same plant, 

 the only species then known, under the name of Colletia horrida. 

 Poiret (in 1811) first detailed the characters of the genus, and 

 Ventenat, in the meantime, figured and described two other 

 plants, which he referred to Colletia. Poiret states (Encycl. 

 Meth. Suppl. ii. 312) that Lamarck figured his type from the 

 plant brought from Peru by Jos. de Jussieu, and from Brazil 

 (Buenos Ayres) by Commerson ; but he evidently confounded 

 two species together. I have seen the original specimens of 

 these two plants, which are preserved in the Jussieuan Herba- 

 rium, and fastened on the same sheet. Commerson's specimen 



14* 



