144 MR. J. MIERS ON TWO GENERA OF PLANTS FROM CHILE. 



OXYTHECA, Nutt. 



Involucrum 3-4 florum, tubulosum, sub-4-gonum, ad medium 4-partitum ; laciniis subaequalibus, acutis, 

 longissime aristatis. Flores hermaphroditi, pedicellati, bracteati, subexserti, demum cernui. Sepala 

 3-4, petaloidea, aequalia, oblonga, unguiculata, valde imbricata, ima basi cum petalis subcoalita. Petala 

 3-4, sepalis alterna et subsimilia, tenuiora, glabra, imbricata, et cum istis persistentia. Stamina 6-8, 

 e summo gynophoro orta, inclusa, 3—4 alternatim breviora, sepalis opposita ; filamenta filiformia, apice 

 inflexa ; antherce rotundatae, cordatae, dorsifixae. Ovarium ovatum, 3-4-gonum, stipitatum, petaus 

 tertio brevius, 1-loculare ; ovulo basilari, erecto. Styli 3-4, breves, erecti, demiim divaricati ; stigmata 

 capitata. Achenium monospermum, ovale, 3-4-costatum, subcompressum, sepalis petalisque emar- 

 cidis arete tectum. Semen unicum, loculum implens ; testa membranacea. Embryo spiralis, anti- 

 tropus, intra albumen farinaceum inclusus; cotyledonibus cochleato-rotundis, foliaceis, accumbentibus; 

 radiculd istis 3-plo longiore, tereti-subulata, hemicyclica, apice recto verticem spectante. 



Herbae suffruticulosae Californicce et Chilenses, Andicolce, sesquipalmares, valde ramosae, ramis gracilibus, 

 in qudque aodlld dichotome divisis; folia radicalia congesta, lineari-subulata, caulina bracteiformia, 

 axillaria, terna, basi connata, hinc breviter vaginantia; involucrum longe pedunculatum e qudque 

 dichotomid ortum; flores minuti, sigillatim prcecociores ; pedicelli singulatim basi bractea lineari 

 aristatd breviore donati. 



1. Oxytheca spictjlata, n. sp.; valde ramosa, ramulis divaricatis dichotome deliques- 

 centibus teretibus gracilibus glanduloso-pilosis, foliis radicalibus congestis spa- 

 thulato-linearibus utrinque aspero-pilosis pilis patentibus e tuberculis totidem ortis ; 

 caulinis in quaque dichotonria ternis bracteiformibus acutis apice mucronulatis 

 aspero-pilosis basi in vaginam brevissimam confluentibus, pedunculo solitario gra- 

 cillune elongato, involucro 3-4-floro ; laciniis longissime aristatis, pedicellis unifloris 

 basi bracteatis demum exsertis, floribus cernuis 4-meris rarissime 3-meris, sepalis 

 hirsutulis petalisque consimilibus glabris rubentibus. 



Hab. in Andibus Chilensibus, descensu orientali, circa rivulum Sanctae Mariae, altitudine 8000 ped. v.v. 



Tbis plant, about 4 or 5 inches high, is very dichotomously branched. A rosulate 

 cluster of about twenty radical leaves spring from the collar of a lengthened tap-root. 

 The leaves, linear, spathulate and attenuated into a slender petiole, are about 8 lines 

 long, 1 line broad, somewhat fleshy, opake, and are covered on each side with numerous 

 patent rigid hairs, each hair springing out of a prominent tubercle. A simple short terete 

 stem, 8 lines in length, rises out of the cluster of leaves, and is crowned at its summit by 

 a verticil of six acute bracts, vaginantly united at their base : out of this verticil spring 

 three equal branches, 11 lines long, each being in succession and with regularity dichoto- 

 mously divided into other more slender branchlets, and their nodes, about 10 lines distant, 

 are each furnished at their base with three bracts, two being opposite the stems and one 

 lateral, all equal, acute, aristate, and united into a vaginant cup about each axil : from 

 the middle of each of the first and of each successive dichotomy rises a capillary erect 

 peduncle, 4 lines long, bearing at its summit an urceolate involucre, the tube of which is 

 fths of a line long, its four lobes of similar length, each terminated by a fine needle-shaped 

 spine f of a line long. The floral bracts are about half the length of the tube which con- 

 ceals them, and are equal in number to the pedicels, which are smooth, and, when fully 

 grown, f of a line long, each bearing a flower ^ of a line in length. The seed enclosed in the 



