458 Mr. J. Miers on the genus Cathedra. 



medium fascieulo setarum barbata, et ad imum subcompressa, 

 ti'uncata et simul cum staniinibus puncto ad raarginem disci 

 singulatim inserta, erecta, sestivatione valvata. Stamina 6, 

 petalis opposita, et iis dimidio breviora ; filamenta brevissima, 

 lata, crassiuscula ; anthera apicifixse, subconicse, subtetragoneae, 

 subgibbse, imo cordatge, apice mucroiie obtuso signatse, 4-locu- 

 lares (summo poris 4 tegmine subdeliquescente bine clatbrato 

 pro emissione pollinis vix apertre ?), areolato-crystallinse, e cel- 

 lulis elongatis circa loculos transversim radiantibus formatse, 

 facie externa hinc reticulato-bullatse. Pollen ovatum, can- 

 cellato-reticulatum. Discus hypogynus, cupuliformis, car- 

 nosus, integer, calycis longitudine, utrinque omnino liber. 

 Ovarium liberum, substipitatum, dimidio inferiori obconico 

 glabro, dimidio superiori glandula carnosa depresso-conica 

 radiis 12 notata pilosula coronato; imo 2-loculare, summo 

 1-loculare, 2-ovulatuui, ovulo anatropo in loculum singulum 

 incompletum apice placentae axillaris utrinque pendulo. Stylus 

 brevis, erectus. Stigma oblongum, obcordato-conicum. Fructus 

 ignotus. — Arbuscnlus Brasiliensis, ramulis subjlexuosis, cortice 

 rimoso, rubente ; folia alterna, elliptica, coriacea, breviter petio- 

 lata, exstipulata ; flores plurimi, parvi, e gemma axillari imbri- 

 cati, aggregatiy fere sessiles, glanduloso-tumentosi. 



1. Cathedra rubricaulis ; — ramis nodosis, subflexuosis, rugosis, 

 ramulis cortice rubro nitido rimoso deciduo vestitis ; foliis lan- 

 ceolato-oblongis, acuminatis, coriaceis, divaricatis, utrinque 

 glaberrimis, subtus pallidioribus, margine revoluto, petiole 

 subbrevi, crassiusculo, canaliculate; fascicule axillari, 10-12- 

 flori, floribus creberrime aggregatis. — Rio de Janeiro ad mon- 

 tem Corcevado, v. v. 



This is a small tree, about 12 feet high, with copious foliage, 

 which I found growing near the aqueduct, at a spot called Agoas 

 Novas, on the ascent of the Corcevado, in July 1837, and of 

 which I made an analysis from living specimens. The bark of 

 the younger branches is of a dark red colour, soon cracks and 

 peels off, leaving the surface somewhat rugous and tubercled. 

 Its leaves are alternate, with internedes half an inch apart ; they 

 are 3|^ to 4^ inches long, 1^ to 1^ inch broad, upon a thick chan- 

 neled petiole, 3 or 4 lines in length ; they are polished above, 

 dull, and of an apple-green colom- beneath. The small cluster 

 of flowers, densely aggregated in each axil, is scarcely half the 

 length of the petiole ; they spring successively out of a closely 

 imbricated bud ; the bracts, calyx, and corolla are covered with 

 minute glandular subresinous clavate spicula, harsher and shorter 

 than hairs, the two former of a reddish colour, the latter exter- 

 nally gi-ayish. Each flower is about y^th of an inch in length; 



