2 MR. J. MIERS ON THE GENUS ATAMISQUEA. 



2-fido, et lateraliter dente utrinque notatus. Petala sex, inaequalia, lineari-spathulata, intus villosa, 

 extus lepidota, reflexa, aestivatione subimbricata, duobus lateralibus brevioribus, exterioribus, et cum 

 sepalis alternis, duobus superioribus post anthesin reliquis erectioribus ; omnia e margine tori orta. 

 Stamina novem, quorum sex fertilia, disco gibbo tenui annulari thecaphorum cingenti adnata : fila- 

 menta glabra, aestivatione replicata, demum recta, sursum declinata, basi glandula libera, obovata, 

 carnosa, hirsutissima, et sparse lepidota munita ; tribus sterilibus reliquis brevioribus, fertilibus peta- 

 lis longioribus: antherae basifixae, loculis duobus coriaceis oblique adnatis intus longitudinaliter 

 dehiscentes, demum curvatae. Thecaphorum e basi tori sublateraliter ortum, declinatum, basi am- 

 pliatum, glabrum, disco annulari staminifero cinctum, hinc geniculatum, inde gracile elongatum, et 

 sursum inflexum, longitudine staminum, et cum ovario apicali lepidotum. Ovarium ovatum. Stylus 

 brevissimus. Stigma obtuse bilobum. Bacca ovoidea, stylo apiculata, dense lepidota, 1-locularis, 

 pulpa parca farcta, post siccationem in valvas quatuor pressione solubilis, sed non dehiscens ; replo * 

 epicarpio delapso persistente. Semina 2 (vel abortu unicum), exalbuminosa, cochleato-reniformia, in 

 pulpa subsuccosa funiculo libero erecto bifurcate ex imo loculo orto lateraliter appensa. Testa 

 coriacea, loculo altero incompleto hilo opposito. Embryo campylotropus : cotyledones magnae, folia- 

 ceae, incumbentes, invicem plicato-convolutae : radicula teres, infera, loculo simulate celata, et ob 

 embryonis curvaturam, hilum superne spectans. 

 Frutex durus, ramosus, America? Meridionalis extratropicas ; ramis abbreviatis, junioribus sublepidotis, 

 nonnunquam spinescentibus ; foliis e ramulis junioribus ortis, parvis, alternis, brevissime petiolatis, 

 canaliculatis, aestivatione conduplicatis, faciebus superioribus invicem applicitis, subtus lepidotis, costd 

 carinatd ; pedunculis axillaribus, solitariis, unifloris. 



1. Atamisqtjea emarginata {Miers, Trav. ii. p. 529): foliis lineari-oblongis basi apice- 

 que emarginatis supra, viridi nitentibus subtus hirsutis incanis squamisque lepidotis 

 tectis. 



Hab. In campis patentibus aridis, salinis, Travesia dictis, provinciae Mendozae. 



The generic title is derived from the vernacular name, Atamisque. It is a tree of 

 withered and barren appearance, not exceeding 8 or 10 feet in height ; the trunk is very- 

 solid, and much bent ; the wood, hard and of close grain, is of a yellow colour ; the bark 

 is very thin and smooth, formed of several yellowish green, membranaceous laminae, peel- 

 ing off in flakes, and exposing the bare yellow wood. The branches are much bent and 

 tortuous ; the younger shoots, which are furfuraceous and of a whitish hue, alone bear 

 leaves. The leaves are alternate, broadly linear, emarginate at both ends, 3 hues long and 

 1 line broad, of a somewhat coriaceous texture, veinless, very entire, polished, and of a 

 dark green above, with a central longitudinal groove over the midrib : in the young state 

 their upper face folds inwardly, with the margins adhering closely together ; and when 



* The term replum, used by Mr. Brown, Prof. Endlicher and other botanists for the indurated margins of seed- 

 vessels that remain after the valves have fallen away, has been objected to by Mr. Bentham (Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 

 p. 326), who thinks that it is defective and unnecessary, as the word margo, the meaning of which is clear, answers 

 the purpose equally well. In the instance to which he refers (that of the persistent sutural margins of the legumes of 

 Mimosece), the latter expression is certainly well adapted ; but in the case above described, where no margin, nor any 

 true valve can be said to exist, the latter term does not apply ; for the thin epicarp appears entire and supported upon 

 the four fibrous ribs that, rising from the base and uniting in the style, serve to support this epicarpal envelope : and 

 although it may be assumed that its origin is due to the confluence of four carpellary leaves, of which these processes 

 may have formed the midribs, they certainly appear finally under a form that seems better expressed by the term 

 replum than by that of margo. 



