PLAGIOCHILA. 467 
7. PLAGIOCHILA DISTINCTIFOLIA, Ldnbg. 
Spec. Hep. I., p. 17, t.; G. L. et N. Syn. Hep. 30. 
Hab, ad truncos, prostratos precipue et putrescentes, in tota planitie 
eequatoriali, prope Paré Amazonum, Mandos Negrensium, &c. In- 
venitur quoque in Antillis, Brasilia et Guiana. 
F30x1°75, 2°75 x15; ¢ Am. 
Caudex tenuis longe repens subnudus. Caules 1-3-pollicares ascendentes 
intricati vage subramosi vel prolifero-dichotomi. 
Folia flavida vel rufescentia, subimbricata vel dissita, distiche patula et 
recurvo-secunda, semiovato-oblonga obtusa, basi (ramea praecipue) 
breviter cuneata et e marginibus ibidem recurvis ad speciem cuneato- 
obovata, margine antico infra apicem paucidentata, postico toto, basi 
excepta, argute spinuloso-denticulata, dentibus sub 20 (i.e. 18-25) 
late subulatis ; cellule mediocres subzquilateree, nisi ad angulos 
leptodermes. 
Flores 2 terminales, cum innoyvatione. Bractez foliis majores, magis 
profunde incisze, dentibus haud raro iterum denticulatis. 
Perianthia (juvenilia) immersa oblonga, ore compresso bilabiato ciliata. 
Andreecia spicata, pro more terminalia; bracteze plurijugee parve, dimidio 
infero erect saccatze supero squarrose patentes spinosee, monandree. 
Obs. The plant above-described was named from a Guiana specimen 
given me by Montagne, and purporting to be genuine, of Plagiochila 
distinctifolia Lg. (= Pl. patula var. 6 N.), but it agrees very imperfectly 
with Lindenberg’s figures and description, nor do the latter agree with 
each other. For, while the stem is described as “ iterato-dichotomous,” 
it is shewn in tab, III. fig. 1 (mat. size) with alaxly pinnate ramification, 
only some of the branches being forked, and with perianths terminal on 
both stem and branches, either with or without a unilateral innovation. 
Then the leaves are said to be four times as long as broad (1 x} lin.) 
with which none of the magnified figures agree, figs. 3, 8a and 8b shew- 
ing them only twice as long as broad. The leaves in fig. 2 come nearest 
to those of my plant in shape and cutting, and differ considerably from 
the rest of the figures. 
Gottsche in ‘ Mex. Leverm.’ acknowledges Lindenberg’s Pl. distinctifolia 
to be a composite species, but does not succeed in shewing to which form 
the name should be limited, He has separated one form, as a species, 
under the name Pl. trregularis G., but his “Pl. distinctifolia, Typus 
Mexicanus. . . ramis primariis iterato-dichotomis subdivaricato-ramosis- 
simis” differs more from my plant and Montagne’s than even Lindenberg’s 
description does. 
It is singular that I nowhere found fertilized female flowers, or even 
full-grown perianths, although the plant abounds in Amazon forests, and 
the prince’s-feather-like involucres are frequent and conspicuous. The 
European Pl. spinulosw is in similar case, for, although plants of both 
sexes are common enough, especially in the British isles, fruit has no- 
where been found. 
8. PLAGIOCHILA ORESITROPHA, Spruce. 
Hab. Andes Peruvianos, in montibus Campana et Guayrapurina, ad 
truncos saxaque. 
F' 2:5 x 2:0, 3°25 x 2°75 5 ¢ As—s 5 per 3°75 x 270™, 
