156 Linnean Society. [Dec. 2, 



lucri dentibus 4 arista acuformi longissima armatis, floribus 4-meris, 

 staminibus 8, petalis rubentibus apice patentibus. 

 Hab. in Andium Chilensium descensu Orientali, inter Mendoza et Acon- 

 cagua, circa rivulum S** Marise, altitudine 8000 ped. 



The other genus described by Mr. Miers is a nearly aphyllous 

 shrub, with straight, erect, virgate branches, terminating in spines, 

 and belongs to the family of Bignoniacece, from some of the usual 

 characters of which family it offers, however, a striking deviation, 

 the ovarium being simply bilocular, with a few ovules suspended on 

 the two faces of the dissepiment, and the fruit forming a small oval 

 drupe, containing a single osseous indehiscent nut, which is 1- celled 

 by abortion, and contains only a single pendulous seed entirely filling 

 its cavity, and consequently quite apterous, oval, with a small thick 

 superior radicle and two plano-convex fleshy cotyledons. This was 

 discovered by Mr. Miers on the skirts of the eastern declivity of the 

 Andes, near Mendoza, on the margin of the desert tract called 

 " La Travesia," where it was also found by Dr. Gillies. Its cha- 

 racters are as follows : — 



OxYCLADUs, Miers. 

 Char. Gen. Ca/?/a; gamophyllus, 5-dentatus, persistens. Corolla gamo- 

 petala ; tubo cylindrico, calyce 2-3-plove longiore, vix gibbo ; limbo 

 brevi, 5-lobo, subbilabiato, lobis rotundatis ; labio inferiore 3-lobo, lobis 

 paululo majoribus, superiore bilobo, in aestivatione imbricativa semper 

 exteriori. Stamina 5, corollse lobis alterna, quorum 4 didynama, 

 quinta superior brevissima ananthera; 2 iuferioribus longioribus faucem 

 attingentibus, 2 lateralibus illis tertio brevioi-ibus ; Jilamenta paullo 

 supra basin tubi inserta, filiformia, glabra; antlierce. rotundatae, reni- 

 formes, cordatse, 2-lobae, connectivo dorsali cordiformi adnatse et huic 

 in medio loborum anticifixae, lobis ovalibus divaricatis antice lon- 

 gitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarium oblongum, pilosum, glandula 

 annulari brevi 5-loba glabra cinctum, 2-loculai'e ; ovulis in quoque 

 loculo circiter 6, superne per paria collateralia, e dissepimenti nervo 

 longitudinali seriatim appensa. Fructus subbaccatus, calyce immutato 

 clausus. Nux ovata, acuta, 4-sulcata, apice 4-denticulata, 1-locu- 

 laris, 1-sperma. Semen loculo conforme, latere superiori funiculo 

 bre^^ appensum ; testa chartacea, favoso-reticulata ; endopleura mem- 

 branacea. Embryo exalbuminosus ; radiculd superiori, crassa, apice 

 mamillEeformi : cotyledonibus ilia triplo longioribus, ovatis, plano-con- 

 vexis, valde crassis. — Arbuscula Mendozensis, vix nan apJiylla, spinosa, 

 ramosissima, glaberrima ; rarais nitidis, erectis ; floribus paucis, aggre- 

 gatis, parviusculis ; corolla ccerulescente. 



OxYCLADUS APHYLLUS (v. V.). 



Hab. prope Mendoza, ad pedem Orientalem Andium Chilensium. 

 Vernac. Ala. 



