176 Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants. 



terminal, nodding. Flowers monoecious ; female flowers at the base, 

 male flowers towards the apex of the racemes, and much more nume- 

 rous ; female flowers solitary, male generally three together, both pedi- 

 celled, but the pedicel of the female rather the longer, and lengthening 

 still farther as the fruit ripens. Bractece at the base of both, rounded, bi- 

 glandular. Calyx in both flowers diphyllous, kidney-shaped, especially 

 in the male, entire, glandular, caducous in the female flowers. Stigmata 

 two, terminal, oblique, round, slightly bordered, green. Style divided 

 to about two-thirds of its length, segments revolute, green, their upper 

 surface covered with a reddish, glandular excrescence, which is conti- 

 nuous from the one segment to the other, and broader than they are. 

 Germen lenticular, more rounded as the fruit advances to ripeness, bi- 

 valvular, bilocular, loculaments with one seed in each, dissepiment con- 

 trary to the valves. Seeds oblong, flattened towards the dissepiment, from 

 the upper part of which they are suspended : outer coat bard and dark, 

 white and shining on its inner surface ; embryo straight. Male fimxen 

 compressed ; stamens six ; anthers geminate ; filaments united at the base. 

 This plant is a native of New Holland, from whence we received it by the 

 kindness of Mr Fraser in 1824. It sprung from seeds sown among 

 earth in which growing plants were imported. It has been always kept 

 in the stove, though it will probably thrive in the greenhouse. I am 

 indebted to Dr Hooker for pointing out to me the description of the ge- 

 nus by Adrien de Jussieu, in his account of the EuphorbiacecB, a work I 

 had not before seen. The form of the stigma and the germen are dif- 

 ferent from the account and figures given by that author ; the leaves 

 are scattered, not alternate, and I have not observed that in our plants 

 the male and female flowers are ever on distinct racemes ; yet I caxmot 

 at all doubt that the present species belongs to the genus Omalanthus. 



Oxalis bipunctata. 



O.bipunctata; scapo multifloro, petiolis vix longiori, compresso, petiolisque 

 pubescenti ; foliis ternatis, foliolis rotundato-cbcordatis, subtus pubescen- 

 tibus, supra subnudis, petiolis cylindraceis; sepalis obtusiusculis, apice 

 bimaculatis ; staminibus 5, stylos superantibus. 



Description Leaves bright green above, paler (occasionally purple when 



young) below, very slightly acid, all radical, ternate, leafets broadly ob- 

 cordate (if inch from base to apex, 2^ inches across), pubescent on the 

 lower side, very sparingly so on the upper, ciliated, middle rib promi- 

 nent below, and giving otf two strong arching veins on each side, those 

 nearest the base being generally branched on their outer side. Petioles 

 round, 5 inches long, pubescent, hairs spreading and lax. Scapes nume- 

 rous, pubescent like the petioles, and rather longer than them, slightly 

 compressed, somewhat irregularly divided at the top, but generally into 

 three branches, which are sometimes again divided, though most fre- 

 quently the flowers proceed directly from their extremities, on long, 

 round, spreading pedicels. Pedicels of the bud nodding, of the fruit re- 

 flected. Bractea at the primary division of the scape a short entire 

 sheath, at the secondary divided into small leafets, placed one on the 

 outside of each pedicel. Calyx green, with a few adpressed hairs, leafets 

 lanceolato-elliptic, with narrow membranous edges, each having two ob- 

 long, approximating orange callosities on the outside of the apex. Pe- 

 tals lilac and veined, subspathulate, truncate, unequally crenate at the 

 apex, spreading. Stamens 10, 5 shorter and 5 as much longer than the 

 styles ; filaments colourless, united at jJ^e base, and above the union 

 hairy ; anthers yellow, cordate, attachedly their backs to the filaments. 

 Germen nearly smooth, green, divided into 5 oblong lobes, each contain- 

 ing several seeds ; styles 5, stout, nearly colourless, hairy ; stigmata lobu- 

 lar, deep green, projecting between the longer filaments. 



The plant flowered abundantly in the stove of the Royal Botanic Garden^ 

 Edinburgh, in April and May 1827, but has not produced seed. Roots 

 were received in 1823 from Mr Harris at Rio de Janeiro, by Captaiti 



