136 Mr. J. Miers on Diclidanthera. 



solitary in each cell, are covered with a white and almost woolly 

 pubescence; they arc 5 lines long, 3 lines broad, and 2 lines in 

 thickness : the albumen is white and fleshy : the embryo is 

 quite green, the cotyledons being orbicular, 2^ lines in dia- 

 meter ; its superior radicle, J of a line long, nearly touches the 

 summit. 



3, Diclidanthera elliptical n. sp. Pluchia curiosa ?, Veil, Flor. 

 Flum, vol. iv. tab. 20, text, p. 157 ; — fohis ellipticis vel late ova- 

 tis, apice subacutis et mucronatis, basi obtusioribus, utrinque 

 pallide viridibus, valde reticulatis et subpuberulis (prsesertim 

 in costa media straminea, et in nervibus), margine vix reflexo, 

 superne opacis, omnino eglandulosis, subtus rarius in dicho- 

 tomiis nervorum glanduliferis, petiolo tenui, pubescente; 

 racemis plurifloris, in ramulis novellis terminalibus, folio in- 

 terdum longioribus; sepalis utrinque valde pubescentibus, 

 corolla dimidio brevioribus, oblongis, obtusis ; corolla fusciore 

 subpuberula, marginibus petalorum in tubum longe ciliatis. — 

 Brasilia. — v. s. in herb, meo, — Prov. Minas Geraes (Gardner, 

 5002) ; Iguassu, in Prov. Rio de Janeiro (filio meo lecta). 



This is certainly a very distinct species, with quite a different 

 aspect from the two former. It has scarcely the same scandent 

 habit ; the leaves are larger, broader in proportion, paler, greener 

 more dull on the upper surface when dried, and mucronate at 

 the point; they are 3| inches long, l|-2 inches broad, on a 

 petiole of 2^ lines; the midrib is of a pale straw-colour; they 

 bear no basal glands on the upper surface, as in D. penduliflora, 

 but they have similar glands on the nerval furcations, as in the 

 last species. The racemes are similarly terminal, 1^-2 inches 

 long, 10-15-flowered; the pedicels are 1 line long; the sepals 

 3 lines ; the corolla rarely exceeds 6 lines in total length, the 

 tube being only 4 lines long, broader than in the preceding spe- 

 cies, and always of a dark fuscous red when dry, the margins of 

 the limb being somewhat paler. The calyx, as well as the whole 

 branchlet, is more densely pubescent, being almost tomentose. 

 The description given in the text of Velloz of his Pluchia curiosa 

 corresponds better with this species than with the preceding one, 

 to which it is referred by Prof. Martins. By Velloz it is placed 

 in Octandria Monogynia : I have found it to happen occasion- 

 ally, in all the species, that one or two of the anthers are defi- 

 cient; but in that case the tube of the stamens is constantly 

 10-nerved*. 



* A drawing of this species, together with analytical details of the struc- 

 ture of the flower and seed of Diclidanthera laurifolia, will be given in 

 the * Contributions to Botany,' pi. 32.J 



