24 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 



L 



length y the anthers are below the mouth of the corolla^ as is also 

 the clavate stigma, which is crowned with two greenish viscid 



glands. 



Phrodus. 



Among the collections made by Bridges in the arid districts of 

 the province of Coquimbo in Chile, are three plants that bear 

 quite the aspect of some of the singular Nolanaceous species 

 which I noticed on a previous occasion as belonging to the ge- 

 nera Alona and Dolium of Dr. Lindley, One of these same 

 plants was formerly described by me [huj. op. vol. i. p. 54) 

 under the name of ^/o?ia microphylla, because it possessed the 

 same general habit, with flowers similar to those of Alona erici- 

 folia and other Nolanaceous plants from the same locality^ and 

 being without fruit I concluded it must belong to that genus. 



The plants now to be described, though evidently referrible to 

 the tribe Solane^s of Endlicher, do not correspond with any re- 

 corded genus : from Salpichroma they differ in having a more 

 tubular calyx, and a much shorter and broader corolla, which 

 does not become black in drying : they approach Dunalia in the 

 structure of their flowers, and somewhat in their Lycium-like 

 habit, but their filaments are simple and more exserted. They 

 greatly resemble at the same time many species of Lycium^ but 

 they differ from that genus in having much larger and more cam- 

 panular flowers with a very different sestivation. The generic 

 name now proposed for these plants is derived from (ppovScij 

 evanidusy because of their shabby stunted habit. 



Phrodus (gen.nov.). — Calycc urceolato-tubulosus, usque ad me- 

 dium 5-dentatus, dentibus acutis, persistens. Corolla infun- 

 dibuliformis, tubo imo contracto, superne ampliore, limbo 5- 

 partito, laciniis oblongis vel rotundatis, expansis, ^stivatione 

 induphcato-valvatis. Stamina 5, subinsequalia, longe exserta ; 

 filamenta filiformia, in coarctationem tubi adnata, imo villosa, 

 hinc glabra ; anther<JB ovatse, 24ob8e, sine connectivo apicifixse, 

 lobis adnatis, rima laterali longitudinahter dehiscentibus. Ova- 

 rium ovatum, imo glandula annulari cinctum, 2-loculare, pluri- 

 ovulatum, placentis incrassatis dissepimento utrinque adnatis, 



filiformis, longitudine staminum. Stigma clavatum, 

 obsolete 2-lobum. Bacca globosa, apice conica, calyce distensa 

 arete inclusa, 2-locularis, polysperma. Semina compressa, re- 

 niformia. Embryo in albumen camosum teres, arcuatus, radi- 

 cula ad angulum basilarem spectante, cotyledonibus semitere- 

 tibus fere sequante. — Fruticuli Chtlenses ramosissimi ; folia mi- 

 nima^ ericoideaj carnosula j flores solitarii, axillareSypeduntmlati. 



1. Phrodus microphyllus. Alona microphylla, huj. op, vol. i. 

 P* 54; — fruticulosus, nodoso-flexuosus, implexo-ramosus, ra- 



\y>s 



