26 



POSOQUERIA versicolor 



Changeable Posoquery. 



PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Nat. ord. ClNCHONACE^E. 



POSOQUERIA, Auhl. Calyx tubo obovato, cum ovario connato, 

 limbo supero, brevi, quinquedentato. Corolla supera, infundibuliformis, tubo 

 tereti, longissimo, fauce vix dilatata, villosa, limbi quinquepartite laciniis 

 paten tibus, obtusis, subsequalibus, alabastro bine gibbo. Stamina 5, corollse 

 fauci inserta, exserta ; filamenta filiformia, brevissima, apice infracto-genicu- 

 lata, antherse oblongse, acutse. Ovarium inferum, biloculare, disco epigyno 

 carnoso. Ovula in placentis dissepimento utrinque adnates plurima .... 

 Stylus filiformis inclusus; stigma brevissime bifidum, lobis gracibbus. Bacca 

 ovata, calycis limbo coronata, succulenta, bilocularis. Semina plurima . . . 



Frutices v. arbusculae, guianenses et antillance, glabra ; ramis teretius- 



culis, fobis oppositis, breve petiolatis, coriaceis, stipulis oblongo^triangularibus 

 demum deciduis, floribus terminalibus , albis, longissimis, corolbs nutantibus. 

 Endlich. gen. no. 3308. 



P. versicolor ; fobis ovali-lanceolatis utrinque acuminatis glabris, coroUis de- 

 curvis versicoloribus : laciniis linearibus staminibus parum longioribus ; 

 fauce glabra, filamentis antberis subsequalibus. 



Oxyanthus versicolor. Bot. Reg. 1840. misc. no. 150. 



I referred this at first to the African genus Oxyanthus, 

 arid now I prefer the Posoquery of Guiana ; the truth being 

 that the plant does not belong exactly to either. With 

 Oxyanthus it corresponds in the absence of hairs from the 

 throat and in the long filaments, with Posoqueria in the oblique 

 corolla ; from Oxyanthus it differs in the latter circumstance, 

 from Posoquery in its naked throat and very prominent an- 

 thers. Upon full consideration of the differences between 

 those genera, it appears that the essential points are the ob- 

 lique corolla of one and the regular one of the other ; and in 

 this point of view the plant before us is a Posoquery. 



* Aymara Posoqueri is the native name among the Caribs of the 

 original species. 



