MR. J. MIERS ON THE FAMILY OF TRIURIACER. 49 
half a line long, the pedicels 2 lines, and the flowers 4 to 3 of a line in diameter. Capt. 
Champion states that he has occasionally found all the flowers pistilliferous, and that the 
utrieles do not burst until some time after the fruit is fully ripe. 
HYALISMA, Champion. 
Cuar. Gen. Flores monoici vel dioici. Perianthium in utroque sexu simile, 8-partitum ; laciniis lanceo- 
latis, æqualibus, patentibus, celluloso-rugosis, basi in urceolum coalitis, æstivatione valvatis, persis- 
tentibus. Masc. Stamina 4, in androphorum carnosum prominulum fer’ sessilia, laciniis alternis 
opposita; filamenta brevissima; anthere quadratim 4-loculares, peltatæ, apice linea transversali 
2-valvatim hiantes ; pollen sphericum, simplex. Pistilli rudimentum nullum.—Fem. Stamina nulla. 
Ovaria plurima (50 ad 60), densissimè in gynæcium carnosum liberum aggregata, obovata, 1-locularia ; 
ovulo unico erecto. Stylus ferè basilaris, ovario 3-7-plö longior, subulato-filiformis, celluloso-articu- 
latus, apice subobtuso, stigmate inconspicuo. Carpidia plurima, utricularia, obovata, breviter stipi- 
tata, structurà omnino Sciaphile. 
Herba Ceylanica, pusilla, hyalina; rhizomate fibroso; caule simplici erecto; foliis bracteiformibus, 
alternis, ovatis, acutis, venis destitutis, celluloso-rugosis ; spicà terminali; floribus pedicellatis, 
sepissime dioicis, interdum monoicis, et tunc superioribus masculis, inferioribus femineis ; pedicellis . 
1-floris, basi bracteatis. 
1. HYALISMA IANTHINA, Champion (loc. cit. p. 466, cum icone); hyalina, caule erecto 
striato, foliis paucis bracteiformibus acutis, floribus purpurascentibus, perianthii 
laciniis patentibus marginibus subreflexis bullulato-rugosis. 
Hab. Ceylon, prope Galle, in sylvis humidis. 
This plant is from 4 to 8 inches in height; the stem is slender, erect, and often flexuose. 
Capt. Champion states that the flowers are generally monecious, but his specimens are 
all, without exception, distinctly dicecious. The leaves and bracts are a line in length; the 
capillary pedicels 4 lines long, the male flowers 14 line, the female 2 lines in diameter; the 
stamens are fixed upon the margin of a somewhat quadrately conical roundish receptacle, 
very analogous to that of Triuris, from which genus Hyalisma differs in the form of its 
anthers, the cells of which are here confluent. It is very easily distinguished from Scia- 
phila, by the extreme length of the persistent style, and its much longer pedicels. 
Among the specimens recently sent from Pari by Mr. Spruce, is one much resembling 
the foregoing plants. The stem is in like manner simple and erect, the flowers spicate 
and moncecious; the perianth is however here 4-cleft, with only two stamens in the male 
flowers: in the female the carpels are very numerous and densely aggregated, with a lateral 
and basal style, as in Sciaphila. The fruit is of the same shape, but is not utricular, as 
the pericarpial and endocarpial envelopes are glued together with woody matter, and are 
separated, with some difficulty, from the crimson-coloured testa, which, together with the 
included nucleus, coincides with that above described of Sciaphila. I have proposed for 
it the name of Soridiwm, from coeds, because of its aggregated carpels. 
SORIDIUM, gen. nov. 
Cuar. Gen. Flores monoici. Perianthium in utroque sexu simile, 4-partitum, basi cyathiforme ; laci- 
niis ovatis, acutis, patentibus, celluloso-rugosis, zestivatione valvatis, persistentibus. Masc. Stamina 
H 
VOL. XXI. MISSOURI 
: à BOTANICAL 
GARDEN. 
