63 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF 



1. 



yalvis semibiedis, placenta central! demum solutis. Semina 

 ignota. — Planta Chilensis suhglalra, radice lignosa perenni, 

 caulibus plurimis adscendentihus, gracilibus, laxis, divaricatim 

 ramosis] folia altema, inferiorihus sinuato-pinnatifidis -, pedun- 

 culi uniflori, axillares, paniculam laxam efformantes. 



Pteroglossis laxa ;— subglabra, ramosissima, ramis plurimis, 

 teretibus, gracilibus, laxe divaricatis, nodis distantibus ; foliis 

 axillanbus, infcrioribus oblongis, sinuato-pinnatifidis, in pe- 

 tiolum spathulatis, sub lente minutissime pubescentibus, me- 

 diis Imeanbus, supremis floriferis in bracteis parvis decrescen- 

 tibus : pedunculis solitariis, viscoso-pubescentibus, unifloris • 

 flonbus parvulis ; corolla straminea, lineis violaceis picta. ' 



Hook 



ery 



the root is ligneous, as well as a short perennial woody stump" 

 Irom which arise several somewhat erect branches 12 to 18 

 mchcs long, which are evidently deciduous ; these are slender 

 terete, glabrous, flexuosely brachiate at each axil, and again 

 dichotomously branched : below, the axils are more approxin?ate 

 above widely distant. The lower leaves are sinuato-pinnatifid 

 about 1 to U inch long including the petiole, and 3 lines broad 

 including the segments ; to the naked eye they appear quite 

 smooth, but under the lens they are seen to be invested by nu- 

 merous, very short, minute hairs: these leaves gradually dimi- 

 nish to the size of | to 1 inch long and only half a line broad 

 and as they ascend they become smaller, till they arrive at the 

 terminal floriferous branchlets, where they assume the form of 

 hnear bracts scarcely a line in length and ^th of a line broad • 

 trom each of these springs a very slender glandular pubescent 

 peduncle, about half an inch in length, bearing a solitary flower • 

 the calyx is 1^ line long, tubular, and crowned by five equal 

 fleshy erect teeth ; tie corolla is about 4 Hues long, of a vel 

 lowish colour, marked by about fifteen violet-coloured, parallel 

 branching lines ; the tube is contracted and cylindrical below for 

 one-third of Its length above this it is ventricose, with a border 

 of five oblong-, rounded and emarginate patent lobes, the upper 

 one of which is somewhat longer and broader; they assume in 

 aestivation that peculiar mode of phcation which I have called 

 reciprocative [he ciL 172); the didynamous stamens are in- 

 cluded, arising from the contracted portion of the tube • the 

 ovarmm is oblong, 2.grooved, imbedded in a fleshy 2-lobed cud 

 borne upon a short stipitate support, and surrounded by the in- 

 duvial remains of the corolla ; the style is slender, the length of 

 the stamens, mflexed at its nnp^ ar.A — j„_ii_. • i • ° . 



