6 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 



6. Witheringta Martiana. Athensea Martiana, Sendtn. he. 

 cit.-y Walp. Rep. vi. 581. Solanum paradoxum^ Schott MSS, 

 Brasilia, Pro v. Rio de Janeiro et Minas Geraes, 



7. Witheringta hirsuta [nan Gardn,), Athenseahirsuta, ^ew£?^w. 

 he. cit, ; Walp. he. eit. — Brasilia, Prov. Minas Geraes. 



8. Witheringta anonaeea. Athenseaanonacea, Sendtn, he. cit. 

 tab. 18 j Walp. he. cit. — Brasilia australis. 



Brachistus. 



A particular group of plants has been before alluded to under 

 this name (ante, p, 4), most of which have been referred to 



Witheringia by Prof. Kunth 



calyx 



almost entire margin, which does not enlarge with the fruit, by 

 a much smaller berry and other characters. They are also di- 

 stinct from Acnistus by the calyx being generally entire on the 

 margin, rarely 5-toothed, and not having the five strong prominent 

 nervures which give to the calyx of the latter genus the appear- 

 ance of an almost pentangular tube : they differ also in the nmch 

 shorter tube of the corolla, a more rotate border, more dilated 



Hebecladtis 



srular 



size, ana tney Jiave smaller berries, which exhibit a very thin 

 membranaceous dissepiment, not thickened in the middle by the 

 confluence of the placentse, as in Witheringia, Acnistus, lochroma, 

 Saracha, tc. ; the placentse on the contrary, originating from a 

 central line in the middle of the dissepiment, are thin and 

 slender, projecting for a short distance at right angles into the 

 cavity of the cell, and then become furcated, continuing mem- 

 branaceous, with numerous seeds attached on each side. The 

 ovarium is also surrounded at its base by a distinct annular disc, 

 and is not seated simply upon a fleshy torus as in Acnistus. 

 These plants appear to me closely allied to the Physalis arbo- 

 rescens, Willd., which, on account of its arborescent habit and its 

 different form of flower, I propose to separate from that genus 

 and attach to this group. They may thus be made to constitute 

 a distinct genus under the name of Brachistus, from ^pdyKTro^ 

 brevtssimus, on account of the shortness of the tube of their 

 corolla. As lochroma (which I have made to include Chanesthes) 

 diflers from Acnistus principally in the length of the tube of its 

 corolla, so Brachistus on the other hand is not less distinct from 

 that genus on account of the extreme shortness of the tube of 

 the corolla, and its deeply cleft rotate border. This ffenus will 



mth 



with 



