Mr. J. Mlers on the Menispermacese. 13 



that in Pijcaarrhena, Clainhus, and Peaianthus. In its inflores- 

 cence^ with several l-flo\vered pedicels fasciculated in each axil, 

 it resembles Pijcnarrhena, as well as in its globular anthers 

 opening extrorsely by a gaping fissure — a feature repeated in 

 Anelasma, Jateorhiza, and Elissarrhena. The chief peculiarity 

 of Arditaxis is in the dimerous arrangement of its floral parts ; 

 but the Menispermacece are far from constant in then* usual 

 ternary disposition, as Ave find also binary sepals and petals in 

 Anthoma, Chqjea, Peraphora, and otliers of the Chsampelida, 

 while in several genera of the family the floral parts arc found 

 in numbers varying between two and seven, or even beyond 

 this. When I published the synopsis of the genera [hiij. op. xiii. 

 124'), a separate section was made to include all those of which 

 (for want of sufficient evidence) the tribe to which they belong 

 could not be determined ; to this section Antizoma was then 

 referred. Since that time I have seen its fruit, which closely 

 resembles that of Pijcnarrhena and other genera of the Pachij- 

 goneoi ; consequently Antitaxis must now find its j^lace in 

 that tribe : its wood is unmistakeably of Menispermaceous 

 structure. The authors of the 'Nova Genera' (i. p. 33), in one 

 sentence, expel this genus and Odontocarya from this family, 

 because they appeared to them to offer no character distinct 

 from the Euphorbiacece, and because they differ from Meni- 

 spermacece in their inflorcsccuce and in their habit. The strong- 

 evidence afforded here and elsewhere completely disproves all 

 these inferences. 



Antitaxis, nob. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 8, per paria 

 decussatim opposita, .2 exteriora bracteiformia, extus longe 

 pilosa, 3 sequentia late obovata, apice truncata, ciliato-fim- 

 briata, 4 interiora paulo majora, a^qualia, suborbicularia, 

 concava, carnosula, glabra, restivatione imbricata. Petala 2, 

 tenuiora, obovata, apice truncata, sepalis 2 interioribus alterua 

 et paulo breviora. Stamina 4, cruciatim disposita, petalis 

 opposita et paululo breviora ; filamenta carnosula, sursum 

 gradatim incrassata ; antherce filamenti vertice semiimmersse, 

 subglobosse, carnosoe, 1-loboe, subextrorsa3, rima subobliqua 

 transversim et bivalvatim hiantes. Ovarii rudimentum nul- 

 lum. — Fceni. Flores ignoti. Driipce 3, aut abortu pauciores, 

 subglobosse, exsiccse, velutinse, styli vestigio facie ventrali 

 notatse; putamen subreniformi-ovatum, tenuiter chartaceum, 

 fragile, 1-loculare; condylus parvus, internus, intra loculum 

 sinum versus paulo intrusus aut fere obsoletus. Semen reui- 

 formi-globosum, exalbuminosum; inteynmentum membrana- 

 ceum, sinum versus chalaza majuscula notatum : cmhryo rcni- 

 formi-globosuSj loculum implcns, cotyledonibus magnis, car- 



