542 Mr. Miers on some new Brazilian Plants 
fibrous ; the stem simple in every specimen I met with, and scarcely exceed- 
ing four inches in height. The leaves are also bracteiform, erect, but not so 
much adpressed. The umbel consists of six to nine pedicellated flowers ; it 
can hardly be said to be forked, as the pedicels all possess nearly one common 
origin; these are somewhat erect and spreading, furnished at their base with 
bractes somewhat larger than the stem-leaves ; the flowers are smaller, of rather 
a deep lilac or rose colour. The stem and leaves are likewise slightly tinged 
with a rosy hue. 
I met with this species in February 1839, only in one spot, in a dense wood 
on the Organ Mountains, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, growing in loose 
fibrous mould; but it was at that time not sufficiently advanced to ascertain 
the dehiscence of the capsule or form of the seed. 
3. D. costata, caule erecto simplici, floribus erectis, cymá bibracteatá, pedicel- 
lis ebracteatis, capsulà evalvi 6-costat apice dehiscenti. 
This plant was found on the Corcovado Mountain near Rio de Janeiro, 
growing near the same spot with D. orobanchioides and Cymbocarpa. It is 
scarcely more than three inches high, 6—7-flowered, with an aspect very 
similar to the last species, but the umbel is rather more forked, it has fewer 
bractes, the leaves on the stem are smaller, the flowers are not so large and 
are nearly white, and there are six distinct rounded striæ or ribs upon the 
pedicel and capsule. The capsule does not separate into valves, but its free 
conical summit bursts into three equal segments crowned by portions of the 
persistent style, which still remains united at its apex. 
I am indebted to George Bentham, Esq. for a specimen of another very 
distinct species of Dictyostega lately collected by Mr. Schomburgk in British 
Guiana. The inflorescence is in a double raceme of few flowers; the peri- 
anthium is proportionally broader and shorter, not so much contracted at 
the middle, and the segments are more obtuse: it is marked by six ribs, 
and the capsule, as in the last-mentioned species, opens only at the apex. 
There is a bracte to each flower, not placed at the base of the pedicel, but 
opposite to it. 
4. D. Schomburgkii, caule erecto subsimplici, racemis geminis paucifloris, 
