FalMands, etc.] FLORA ANTARCTICA. 355 



against their trunks in the mountain forests, as the C. margiuata does at Cape Horn. Their Australian representative 

 is the Brymophila cyaiwcarpa, Br., a subalpine Tasmanian plant, very similar to them in habit. 



2. Callixene polyphylla, Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 674. 



Hab. Cape Tres Montes, C. Darwin, Esq. 



The C. marginata does not attain a lower latitude in South America than the Strait of Magalhaens, but is 

 replaced in South Chili by the present species, which is much handsomer ; this, again, is represented in Peru by 

 the genus Lusurmga of Ruiz and Pavon. 



2. PHILESIA, Comm. 



Flores hermaphroditi. Perigonium corollinum, campanulaturn, sexpartitum, lacinia? exteriores interioribus 

 multoties breviores. Stamina 6, imo perigonii inserta ; flamenta filiforinia, infra medium in tubum connata ; antlierce 

 inclusa?, lineares, extrorsas. Ovarium parvum, uniloculare. Ocula plurima, sub-biserialia, orthotropa, fuuiculis 

 brevibus, placentis parietalibus elongatis aduexa. Stylus elongatus, simplex. Stigma exsertum, eapitatum, plumosum, 

 obscure 3-lobum. Bacca unilocularis, polysperma. Semina pidpo glutinoso nidulantia, ascendentia, ovoidea, rugosa ; 

 testa tenuis, flavida ; albumen corneum ; embryo cavitate axili albuminis lente arcuatus, extremitate cotyledonari hilo 

 oppositus. — Suffrutex Chilensis suherectus. Rami teretes, strieti v.jlexuosi. Polia alterna, coriacea. Pedunculi ramis 

 terminates. Flores magni, sjpeciosi, basi bracleati. Philesia, Commerson, ex Juss. Gen. p. 41. 



1. Philesia buxifolia, Lam., Blast. Gen. t. 248. Poiret, Encijcl. vol. v. p. 269. Rcem. etSch. vol. vii. 

 p. 314. Lhidl. Veg. Kingd. p. 217. 



Hab. Strait of Magalhaens, Commerson; Port Famine, Cajjt.King; Good Success Bay, Banks and 

 Solander. 



Except by the parietal placentation, the genera Philesia and Lapageria (themselves very closely allied), differ in 

 no important points from Callixene and Luzuriaga, and since placentation does not afford characters of the impor- 

 tance amongst Monocotyledonous that it does in Dicotyledonous Orders, I see no objection whatever to arranging 

 these two genera under Smilacea proper and next to Callixene. 



In Asteliacea, as I have mentioned elsewhere, the placenta; are axile, parietal or pendulous ; in Juncete, parietal 

 or basal ; in Amaryllidea, axile or parietal ; in Liliacea, the same ; and other orders equally display a very con- 

 siderable amount of variation in the consolidation of the carpels, and consequent disposition of the placenta?, 

 unaccompanied, however, with any other characters of more than generic value. 



In all other respects, Philesia is even generically very nearly related indeed to Callixene, through Luzuriaga, which 

 has the three inner segments of the perianth still larger in proportion than in Callixene ; and on the other hand, 

 through Lapageria, in which they are all equal in size. The habit, texture, distichous insertion of the leaves, which 

 are all on the same plane with the ramuli ; the texture, nervation, margination, and even fonn of the leaves, which 

 are glaucous beneath, are alike in Callixene and Philesia ; so are the terminal, large, solitary, bracteate flowers, the 

 texture of the perianth, extrorse anthers, baccate fruit, the numerous ovules in two series on three rows of placenta?, 

 the many ovoid seeds, delicate testa, dense albumen, and axile embryo which is of similar form in the two. The 

 only difference in the ovules is, that those of the Callixene are heterotropal, those of Philesia nearly straight or 

 atropal, characters rather indicating close affinity than the contrary. 



With regard to the genus Lapageria, R. and P., it is so closely allied to Philesia that I doubt its validity, the 

 chief differences being the nearly equally divided perianth of Lapageria, its more distinctly three-lobed stigma, oblong 



