168 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 



which I proposed as the type of a new genus, and named Elis- 

 sarrhena longipes in ray Synopsis of this family {huj. op. xiii. 

 124). This species has been since described and tigm-ed by 

 J)r. Eichler under the name of Anomospermum grandifolium. 

 Its branches are fistulose^ with very large leaves, upon unusually 

 long and stiff petioles : these leaves are flaccid in texture, con- 

 spicuously 5-nerved at base, the nerves being outwardly branched, 

 little divaricating, extending in a neai'ly parallel direction for 

 three-fourths of the length of the leaf, when they anastomose in 

 an arching manner with the few lateral nerves which spring from 

 the upper portion of the midrib ; these nerves are all prominent 

 and shining on both sides, as are also the very conspicuous 

 transverse veins. In Anomospermum, on the contrary, the spe- 

 cies are very lofty climbers, all the branches having a wood 

 which is very compact and solid to the centre ; the leaves are 

 nut a quarter the size of those of Elissarrhena, and upon shorter 

 and slender petioles ; they are coriaceous and finely reticulated, 

 with three simple slender nervures, springing from the base, 

 running for a short distance near the margin, and soon anasto- 

 mosing with many others that spring from the midiib, so that 

 they appear almost pinnately nerved, without the transverse 

 veins which form so conspicuous a feature in Elissarrhena ; or 

 more frequently the nerves and reticulations are wholly immersed 

 in the thick parenchyma, so that they become almost impercep- 

 tible. This extreme difference in the general appearance of the 

 leaves is very striking. The inflorescence in Anomospermum is 

 always glabrous, normally consisting of two axillary solitary 

 flowers, each upon a pedicel the length of the petiole ; but fre- 

 quently upon the same plant we find in the axils a long aphyl- 

 lous young branch, from w^hich the nascent leaves have fallen 

 away or are abortive, so that the inflorescence thus assumes the 

 form of a very simple raceme, with two single pedicellated. 

 flowers in each axillule, and much longer than the entire leaf: 

 the flowers are double the size, very glabrous ; the petals are so 

 very thick and compressed together that they resemble a central 

 fleshy disk; the anthers consist of two oblong cells dorsally 

 affixed, each cell bursting iiitrorsely by a longitudinal fissure. 



On the other hand, in Elissarrhena the inflorescence is very 

 tomentose, five sixths to nine-tenths shorter than the petiole, con- 

 sisting of a peduncle with its apex separated into three very short 

 branches and again divided, each brauchlet bearing three flowers 

 upon pedicels so very short that they appear almost sessile ; all are 

 thus closely approximated into a corymbulose and almost globular 

 head on the summit of the peduncle : the sepals are pubescent 

 on both sides ; the petals are of thinner texture, more separated, 

 cuneately orbicular, with the laterally lobed margins inflected, as 



