Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 17 



erecta, 3 exteriora libera, 3 altera fere ad medium in columnam 

 centralem coalita; anthera didymse, lobis parvis, oblongis, 

 liberis, erectis, apice paulo divaricatis, rima laterali longitudi- 

 naliter dehiscentibus. — Fcem. ignoti. Drupa 9, supra recepta- 

 culum parvum crebriter erectee, longiuscule stipitatse, exsiccse, 

 orbiculares, valde compressse, basin versus stylo persistente 

 notatse, nigrse, rugulosse, glabrae; putamen sarcocarpio sicco 

 tenaciter adberente vestitum, orbiculare, valde compressum, 

 carina peripherica tenui latiuscula munitum, utraque facie mar- 

 ginem versus lira annulari prominente signatum, disco planum 

 et sulco spirali notatum,tenuiter chartaceum; condylus'iwtevaus,, 

 septiforniis, primum angustus, demuni filiformis, a basi ortus, 

 deinde ex anfractibus 3 spiraliter convolutis in centro termi- 

 natus. Semen loculum implens, exalbuminosum, valde com- 

 pressum; integumentum conforme, membranaceum, condyle 

 spirali interseptatum : embryo valde elongatus, pariter teres, 

 radicula basi proxima, ad stylum persistentem spectante, coty- 

 ledonibus linearibus accumbentibus vagis paulo breviore. 

 Frutex vel sufFrutex Madagascariensis, crebre ramosus ; rami 

 longi, ter-etes, iterum ramosissimi, pendentes, glaberrimi, ramulis 

 ultimis pedicellos 2 unifloros gerentibus : flores parvi, glabri. 



The following species will be described in the third volume of 

 my ' Contributions :' — 



Spirospermum penduliflorum, Thouars, Gen. Madag. p. 19. no. 63; 

 DC. Syst. i. 515, Prodr. i. 96. — In Madagascar: v. s. in 

 herb. Hook, (j^ et ? (Gerard, 32). 



53. Detandra. 



This genus was proposed by me, several years ago, for two 

 plants in the herbarium of Prof. DeCandolle, both natives of the 

 province of Bahia in Brazil; its characters were sketched more than 

 three years since in my synopsis of the genera of the family (Jiuj. 

 op. xiii. p. 124). One of these plants, in the size, shape, and tex- 

 ture of its leaves, offers some resemblance to Chondodendrum 

 tomentosum, E.. & P., with which it also agrees in the more than 

 usual number of its imbricately disposed sepals ; but it differs 

 in the form of its six petals, and in having only three stamens, 

 whose filaments are united into a central column, leaving the 

 anthers almost sessile on its furcated summit*; the two cells of 

 each anther are laterally imbedded in the nearly obsolete points 

 of the filaments, the intermediate connective being very shortly 

 and obtusely excurrent beyond their apex ; and they burst by a 



* This feature of the agglutination of the stamens suggested the generic 

 name, from herbs, ligatus ; a.vj)p, mas. 



Ann. c^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 2 



