102 schomburgk's guiana plants. 



ramis angulatis, follis alternis ovatis oblongisve coriaceis pen- 

 ninerviis, floribus albidis v. flavicantibus paniculatis breviter 

 pedicellatis, pedicellis basi bibracteolatis in axilla bracteae 

 bracteolis subsimiles. 



The American plants referred to Comesperma are so very 

 different in habit from the original Australian species of that 

 genus, that one would be tempted on that ground alone to 

 consider them as distinct, even were there not characters in 

 the structure of the flower and fruit which appear to me to 

 be important. The corolla of Catocoma is that of a Securi- 

 daca^ the two minute scale-like petals placed at the base of 

 the staminal tube being observable in all the species I have 

 examined of both genera; whilst in the true Australian 

 Comespertnata, the corolla and staminal tube, as in Polygala, 

 are mucli more membranous and closely connate without 

 any trace of the lateral petals. The general resemblance 

 in the form of the fruit, which probably induced the combin- 

 ing the American with the Australian genus, disappears in a 

 great measure on a close examination. The fruit of Cato- 

 coma is oblong cuneate, always somewhat fleshy, the seed 

 occupies a great portion of the length of the cell, its carun- 

 culus is small, placed at one extremity, and the long hairs 

 which envelop the seed, proceed from the hilum, and are 

 totally distinct from the shorter ones which clothe the seed as 

 in most PolygalacecE. In Comesperma, on the other hand, the 

 fruit is spathulate, narrowed into a long kind of stipes at the 

 base; the seed is small, placed at the apex of the cell, the 

 carunculus is linear, extending nearly half way round the 

 seed, and the coma consists merely of the hairs which clothe 

 the testa, and which in this genus are of an extraordinary 

 length. 



The following are the species of Catocoma whicli 1 have 

 examined : — 



1. C floribunda ; scandens, foliis supra glabris subtus pu- 

 berulis v. demum glabratis, paniculis tomentellis ampHs flori- 

 bundis vix foliatis, alls extus glabris intus puberulis, ovario 

 ovato villoso, stylo loviter incurvo, cnpsula sericeo-canescente 



