TllK (JK\rS CO U POUT ]() 



pentamevous (op. cit. 17 — "courciine par cinque lobes du calico"). 

 All isonierv as between male and female is a condition b\^ no means 

 unusual in the case of declinous tlowers. 



The inferior fruit and sympetalous corolla point clearly to 

 Miihiacecs as the family to which Coupoui may be assigned ; and"^ this 

 conckision is supported by the whorled arrangement of the simple 

 leaves, with their entire margins. The fruit is fleshy, apparently, 

 containing a single large seed ; but in spite of the last-named cha- 

 racter, it would seem that Coupoui should be relegated to the multi- 

 ovulate section of RiiblacecG (see Wernham in Journ. Bot. liv. 320 

 (191(3)). The dioecism, the contorted aestivation, and the external 

 aspect of the plant leave little doubt that the genus is related to 

 Daroia and other allied members of the tribe Crardeniece in which 

 the sexes are separated — constituting the subtribe Oordierece. The 

 buds of the male tlowers in Coupoui bear a striking resemblance to 

 those in Ainajoua, Duroia, etc. Moveover, the Eugardeniecc display 

 a decided general tendency to reduction in the number of ovules and 

 seeds, correlated, probably, with the tendenc}^ to increased size of the 

 latter: many species of Tricalijsia, for example, and its allies 

 Diplospora, Kraussia, etc., have fruits with few seeds — from three 

 to one. This tendency, however, has not been noted in the Cordierece 

 hitherto, so that Coupoui is readily definable as a genus upon this 

 character alone. Other critical characters are the arrangement of 

 the male flowers in many-tiowered clusters, and of the female, two or 

 three together terminally upon the twigs (" bini aut terni, sub- 

 scssiles, terminales," accoi'ding to Aublet) ; and the whorled arrange- 

 ment of the leaves, with the fugacious stipules. 



Miers described a second species of his Cupirana, based upon 

 another plant of Martin's collection, and a third, collected in the 

 Para district of Brazil b}^ Ducke, is described below. It is remark- 

 able that this should have escaped the notice of Brazilian collectors 

 prior to the present century ; Coupoui has no place in the Flora 

 Brasillensis. 



The genus, then, comprises three species, all in the National 

 Herbarium, readilj^ distinguishable by the following clavis : — 



Leaf-stalks much exceeding the flowers ; leaf- 

 base auriculate-cordate aqnatica. 



Leaf-stalks not exceeding the flowers, or barely 

 so ; leaf-base acute. 



Calyx-limb truncate, entire Marfiniana. 



Calyx-limb conspicuously toothed braslllensls. 



1. Coupoui aquatica Aviblet, PI. Guian. ii. Supp. IG, t. 377 

 (1775). Cuplrana Aubletiana Miers, Apoc. S. Amer. 15 (1878). 



GuiAis'A. Galibi river, French Guiana, Auhletl CsLjeime, Marflnl 

 2. Coupoui MAirrixiAXA Wernham, nom. nov. Cuplrana Mar- 

 finiana Miers, Apoc. S. Amer. 17 (1878). 



GuiajS'A. Cayenne, Martin ! 



3. Coupoui brasilieusis Wernham, sp. nov. 



Arbor, ramulis validissimis subteretibus insigniter corticatis apicem 



