MiTREOLA. RUBIACEiE. 45 



cal : cotyledons short, ovate. — Annual glabrous herbs (natives of tropical 

 America and the Southern United States), with opposite oval or lanceolate 

 leaves, and very small entire stipules between the petioles. Flowers small, 

 Avhite, in terminal scorpioid cymes. 



Mitreola appears to differ from Mitrasacme, LahiU. chiefly in its pentamerous 

 flowers. — In both species of this genus, and also in Polj^iremum, the pollen-tubes 

 are often so copious, even in dried specimens, as to fasten the anthers strongly to 

 tlie stigiua. 



1. M. petiolata: leaves membranaceous, lanceolate or oval-oblong, acute, 

 narrowed at the base into a petiole. — Ophiorhiza Mitreola, Linn. spec. 1. p. 

 150; Swartz, obs. p. 59, t, 3,/. 2. O. lanceolata, Ell.! sk. I. p. 238. 

 Anonymos petiolata, Walt. Car. p. 108. Cynoctonum petiolatum, Gmel. 

 syst. p. 4. 



Damp shady soil, Virginia ! to Florida! and west to the borders of Texas! 

 June-Sept. — Stem 1-2 feet high, .somewhat branching. Leaves 1-3 inches 

 long. Peduncles terminal and from the axils of the upper leaves, once or 

 twice dichotomous or trichotomous : the flowers subsessile and unilateral 

 along the somewhat circinate divisions, and solitary in the forks. Bracts 

 minute, subulate, one to each flower. Capsule exactl3'^ mitre-shaped ; the 

 lobes somewhat flattened anteriorly and posteriorly, slightly pointed, diverg- 

 ing, and then often somewhat convergent near the summit, each opening by 

 a small chink in the ventral suture near the summit. 



2. M. sessilifolia : leaves firm or slightly coriaceous, ovate or roundish, 

 sessile; the veins conspicuous beneath. — Ophiorhiza Mitreola, Michx. ! fl. 

 I. p. 148 (partly) ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 139 ; Ell.! sk. 1. p. 237. O- ovalifo- 

 lia, Mulil. cat. p. 20. O. Croomii, Curtis! pi. Wilmingt. in Bost. jour, 

 nat. hist. \. 'p. 128. Anonymos sessilifolia, Walt.! Car. p. 108. Cynocto- 

 num sessilifolium, Gmel. I. c. 



(3. angustijhlia : leaves lanceolate-elliptical, closely sessile, obscurely 

 veined. 



Damp shady .soil, and wet banks of rivers, South Carolina! Georgia ! and 

 Alabama! /^. Middle Florida, J9/-. Chapman! .June-Aug. — Stem 12-18 

 inches high, somewhat quadrangular, simple, or sometiiues branched from 

 the base, or slightly so at the summit. Leaves half an inch to an inch long, 

 often nearly round, very obtuse at the base, and closely .sessile. Stipules 

 very small, those of the lower leaves indistinct. Peduncles and iuflore.scence, 

 flowers. &c. nearly as in the preceding species, the flowers perhaps closer 

 and more nearly sessile. ^Estivation of the corolla slightly imbricated ? — 

 We have resumed the specific names of Walter, the first botanist who dis- 

 tinguished the two species. It is Achille Richard, if we mi.stake not (for we 

 do not possess his paper on the subject), wlio has proposed the name of M. 

 ophiorhizoides ; but, as he has followed Michaux, who considered the two 

 plants as mere varieties, we know not to which species this name, if adopted, 

 should be apjilied ; perhaps to M. sessilifolia, which appears to be the plant 

 Michaux had chiefly in view, while the other species is the original Ophio» 

 rhiza Mitreola. 



19. ? POLYPREMUM. Linn., in act. Ups. (1741) t. 78 ,• La7n. ill. t. 

 71 ; Geertn. Jr. t. 62 ; Juss, in ann. mus. Par. 5. p. 255, Sfmem. mus. 

 6. p. 382 ; DC. prodr. 4. p. 435. 



Symphoranthos, Milch. 

 Calyx deeply 4-parted ; the divisions subulate from an ovate base, with 

 Bcarious margins. Corolla somewhat rotate, not longer than the calyx ; the 



