248 Lxvii. EPACKiDE.E. [Cosmelia. 



W. Australia. King George's Sound and the immediate neiglibourhood, R. Brown^ 

 Drummond^ "^rd Coll. n. 194, Freiss^ n. 429, and others. I have no hesitation in imitinj; 

 Do Candolle's two species, as the leaves vary in breadth on diiTcrcut branches of the same 

 specimen much more than within the limits assigned to the two (from 2 to 4 lines). 



21. SPREWGELIA, Sm. 



(Ponceletia, R, Br.) 



Corolla-tube very short, sometimes separating into distinct petal-clarts ; 

 lobes 5, very spreading, more or less imbricate in the bud. Stamens Iiypo- 

 gynous, sliorter than the corolla ; anthers connivent or cohering in a ring 

 round the style. Hypogyuous disk none. Ovary 5-ceUed, with several 

 ovules in each cell, on a nearly sessile placenta attached to the axis ; style 

 filiform, inserted in a tubular depression of the ovary. Capsule loculicidaliy 

 dehiscent. — Shrubs. Loaves witli a shortly sheathing often membranous 

 base completely covering the branches, very concave and stem-clasping im- 

 mediately above the base, acute or acuminate with a spreading poait, finely 

 veined or almost veinlcss, the upper ones passing into floral leaves or bracts, 

 the sheathing base of the stem-leaves deciduous with them, leaving the de- 

 nuded stem without scars. Flowers solitary and terminal, surrounded by 

 numerous leafy bracts. Sepals not of a very difTercnt texture from the last 

 bracts. Corolla as long as or scarcely exceeding the calyx. 



The genus is limited to Eastern Australia. The two species first known presented (dif- 

 ferences which seemed to warrant the considering them as distinct genera, but the characters 

 relied upon are invalidated by the third species since discovered, in which they are differently 

 combined. 



r 



Petal-claws completely connate into a short tube ; laminse or lobes 



very broad, very much imbricate. Anthers free, glabrous . , I, S. Poncektia. 



Petal-claws as well as the laminse free and much imbricate. Anthers . . , 



connate, glabrous 2. S, ponceletioidet* 



Petal-claws scarcely cohering, valvate ; lamina or lobes narrow, 



slightly nnbncate. Anthers connate or free, papillose-hirsute or 



rarely glabrous 3. 5. incarmfa. 



r 



^ 1. S. Ponceletia, F. Muell. Fragm. i. 39, vi. GO. A glabrous erect 

 slirub attaining but few feet. Leaves broad, concave, spreading or incurved, 

 acuminate and pungent-pointed, smooth or finely veined, 2 to 4 lines long, 

 the uppermost floral ones or leafy bracts like the others or with a broader 

 base and crowded round the flower into a kind of involucre. Sepals leaf-hke 

 but more lanceolate, almost obtuse, usually about 3 lines long but very vari- 

 able m breadth. Corolla about as long as the calyx, the very short broaa 

 tube not separating into petal-claws, the lobes much longer, very broad and 

 obtuse, almost cordate at the base, very much imbricate. FUaments some- 

 what flattened. Anthers linear or linear-lanceolate, adnate to below ttie 

 middle, glabrous, connivent round the style but not cohering. Style ratlier 

 ihvck. —Ponceldia ^p-emjdioides, E. Br. Prod. 554 ; DC. Prod. vii. 767. 



S'^o °™'i''' ^'=^'"*«^. Moretou Island, F. Mueller. , P,„t 



Iff. S. Wales. Marshes near Sydney, R. Brown, Sieber, n. 71, anJ o'^'^'^'' ' 

 JMacqiiarne, Backhouse. — ~ *— 



2. S. ponceletioldes, 8oncl. in Linncea, xxvi. 254. A small diffusa 



