440 CLASMATOCOLEA. 
XXII. CLASMATOCOLEA, nov. gen. 
Plante pusille fragiles. Cazlis primarius brevis suberectus den- 
sifolius, e basi radicellosa—interdum etiam sub flore terminali— 
ramos tenues arcuantes parvi-dissitifolios, apice decurvo seepe radi- 
cantes, proferens. ol/a alterna, assurgenti-subsecunda, plana vel 
concava, obovata, rotundata, subtruncata vel retusa ; ramea persepe 
obcordato-etineata. Fol/ola duplo breviora, heteromorpha, pleraque 
ovato-lanceolata integra, alia autem (superiora preecipue) bifida. 
Flores divici ; bractee ? foliis majores, parum diversiformes. Per¢- 
anthia pro plantula magna, fragillima, obovata vel subobconica, 
superne obscure (vel vix) trigona, ore hiante breviter 2-4-loba. 
Capsula oblongo-globosa, ceeteraque fere Lophocolee. 
Hab. et Distr. Specierum trium mihi cognitarum due habitant 
Andes Quitenses, ad terram umbrosam in regione superiore sylvatica ; 
tertia, C/. cunetfolia (Hook.) Spruce, hucusque solum sterilis visa, 
in montibus Hibernicis a cl. Dna. Hutchins primum inventa fuit. 
These curious little plants come very near Lophocolea, but are well dis- 
tinguished by the peculiar habit ; the assurgent leaves, with a plane 
antical margin—not convexo-deflexed, with the antical margin decurrent 
and recurved at the base (as in Lophocolea); the biform underleaves, 
mostly entire, but some bifid. The perianth, turgid and indistinctly 
carinate, is so fragile that the slightest touch breaks off the short un- 
equal lobes at the wide mouth.—I cannot doubt that the Irish Jung. 
cuneifolia Hook. Brit. Jung. t. 64, hitherto known only from sterlile 
specimens, is a true Clasmatocolea. Specimens gathered a few years ago 
on Mt. Brandon, by M‘Ardle, are so ike the arcuate barren shoots of Cl. 
fragillima, that until I compared them closely I thought them the same 
species. The Ivish plant (like the Andine) has both entire and bifid under- 
leaves, and was correctly so described by Nees from original specimens 
of Miss Hutchins’, although Hooker’s figure (1. ¢.) and the E. Bot. figure 
(t. 2700) show only bifid underleaves, 
CLASMATOCOLEA FRAGILLIMA, Spruce. 
In monte Tunguragua, inter folia emortua, cum Chetocolea palmata, 
Spruce, alt. circiter 2500™, 
F5x°4; ¢gy—es5 f@ (3°15; br 6; per 1:2 °9™™, 
Pusilla rufo-badia rigidula, fragilis tamen et fere vitrea. Caules semi- 
pollicares basi fasciculato-ramosi ascendentes, prolifero-elongati, 
Innovationibus aliisque ramis apice flexuoso seepe sensim parvifoliis. 
Folia alterna subdissita assurgenti-subsecunda obovato-quadrata cunea- 
tave, apice truncato retusa vel obtuse emarginata ; cellule parve 
eequilaterve valde incrassatee. 
Foliola late patentia, foliis vix duplo breviora—magnitudine autem 
variabilia—ovato-lanceolata acuminata integra, vel profunde bifida, 
hine vel utrinque basin versus dente armata. 
