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



The generic features of this genus may be thus characterized : — 



Oxycxadtjs, gen. nov. 



Calyx gamophyllus, 5-dentatus, persistens. Corolla gamopetala; tubo cylindrico, calyce 2-3-plove lon- 

 giore, vix gibbo, limbo brevi, 5-lobo, sub-bilabiato lobis rotundatis ; labio inferiori 3-lobo, lobis 

 paululo majoribus ; superiori 2-lobo, in sestivatione imbricativa semper exteriori. Stamina 5, 

 corolla? lobis alterna, quorum 4 didynama, et quinto superiori brevissimo ananthero, 2 inferioribus 

 longioribus faucem attingentibus, 2 lateralibus istis tertio brevioribus ; filamenta paullo supra basin 

 tubi inserta, filiformia, glabra ; antheree rotundatae, reniformes, cordatae, 2-lobae, connectivo dorsali 

 cordiformi adnata? et huic in medio loborum praefixae, lobis ovalibus divaricatis antice longitudina- 

 liter dehiscentibus. Ovarium oblongum, pilosum, glandula annulari brevi 5-loba glabra cinctum, 

 2-loculare ; ovula in utroque loculo circiter 6, superne per paria collateralia, e dissepimenti nervo 

 longitudinali seriatim appensa. Fructus sub-baccatus, calyce immutato clausus. Nux ovatus, acutus, 

 4-sulcatus, apice 4-denticulatus, 1-locularis, monospermus ; semen loculo conforme, latere superiori 

 funiculo brevi appensum ; testa chartacea, favoso-reticulata ; endopleura membranacea. Embryo ex- 

 albuminosus ; radiculd superiori crassa, apice mammillasformi ; cotyledonibus ista 3-plo longioribus, 

 ovatis, plano-convexis, valde crassis. 



Arbuscula Mendozensis vix aphylla, spinosa, ramosissima, glaberrima, ramis nitidis, erectis ; flores pauci, 

 aggregati, parvuli ; corolla cosrulescens. 



1. Oxycxadtjs aphylltjs ; ramulis erectis virgatis teretibus nitidis rubentibus spina ter- 

 minatis ; junioribus oppositis spina3formibus fioriferis, foliis bracteiformibus minimis 

 sub flores aggregatis (an bracteis ?) linearibus glabris incurvis, fioribus 2-3 fascicu- 

 latis breviter pedunculatis, calyce glabro, corolla extiis pubescente pilis recurvis 

 caerulescente, ovario piloso. 



Hab. prope Mendozam ad pedum Andium. Vernac. Ala. v.v. 



This is a shrub about 8 feet high, with the habit of a woody leafless broom. The 

 branches have a very smooth bark, of a chestnut-brown colour, almost polished, and the 

 young branchlets that bear the flowers look like spines, being subulate and mucronate, as 

 are also the ends of all the branches : the axils are opposite, but frequently one branch, 

 or both, are barren, which adds more to its spinescent appearance. About two or three 

 flowers spring out of each axil on the spine-like branchlets, bearing at the foot of the 

 peduncles several minute, curved, smooth, linear leaflets, about half a line in length. The 

 peduncles are about a line long ; the smooth tubular calyx, crowned with five somewhat 

 unequal, short, triangular teeth, is 3 lines in length ; the corolla is tubular, of a bluish 

 colour, and about 6 lines long ; the tube is little more than a line in diameter, is pubescent 

 outside, with reflected hairs ; it has a bilabiate border formed of five short rounded lobes, 

 which are somewhat expanded and thrown back ; the attachment of the filaments at their 

 apex is upon the anterior face of the anthers, and on the connective between the two 

 divaricating lobes, contrary to the general rule of the Order. The fruit is a subfleshy 

 pubescent drupe, enclosed in the persistent and scarcely enlarged calyx, and it contains 

 an oval osseous nut, 3 lines long, 2 fines in diameter, pointed, 4-grooved, and surmounted 

 by four minute teeth ; a single seed fills its cavity, suspended by a short thread from the 

 dissepiment, which is pressed against one side of the cell, and upon which may still be 

 seen the abortive ovules ; the embryo is exalbuminous, with an obtuse superior radicle, 



