134 SCHOMBURGK’'S GUIANA PLANTS. ` 
dense et minute glandulosis, glandula scutelliformi maxima 
ad basin petioli, et nonnullis inter pinnas superiores v. in 
petiolis partialibus, spicis fasciculatis paniculatis, floribus 
pentandris.— Frutex, super arbores altissimas scandens, Rae 
muli pubescentes, anguli 4-5 elevatis, spinis crebris retrorsis 
brevibus onustis. Foliola 2 lin. longa glabriuscula; glan- 
dul pagine inferioris in sicco fusce. . Spice 2—3-pollicares 
uti calycesfuscse. Petala libera glabra. Staminacorolla parum 
longiora, sterilia nulla. Antherz oblonge glandula minuta 
fugacissima. Ovarium villosum. Stylus glaber.—Not having 
seen the fruit, I have some doubts as to this plant being a true 
Entada, as it differs from the: other species in the number of 
stamens.— Rio Negro, Schomburgk, n. 917, : 
The great elevation to which the climbers which form this. 
genus attain, and the enormous size of their pods, are pro+ 
bably the cause that even the more common species are 
seldom to be met with in herbaria, and scarcely ever in pef- 
fect specimens. Little therefore can be added to the extent 
or to the characters of the genus as given by De Candolle. 
It is very closely allied to the section Bataucaulon, and esper- 
cially to Stachyomima amongst Mimose. ee 
Gardners n. 1589 from Ceara, belongs to a new genus 
which I have called Plathymenia. It has the calyx and 
corolla of Entada, 10 stamens usually twisted round the ovary - 
in the bud, the filaments smooth and free, the anthers glandu- 
liferous, the ovary and style very woolly. The pod is re- 
markable; in its outward appearance it is like that ofthe - 
broad thin-podded Acacias; the pericarp opens in two valves - 
as in Acacia; but the endocarp, as in Entada, separates © 
from the pericarp, is thin, membranous, and indehiscent, but. 
splits transversely between the seeds, so as to enclose each | 
seed in a broad, thin, white, membranous case. . Of this genus 
I have six Brazilian species, ‘They are all apparently trees or’ 
shrubs, without prickles; the leaves bipinnate without glands; | 
the leaflets ovate or oblong, blunt and oblique, usually c 
numerous: the spikes of flowers long, axillary, supra-axillary, 
or collected at the ends of the branches, and the pod smooth. - 
