Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 263 



branches horizontally patent and gradually decreasing upwards; 

 these are again and again divided, by branchlets standing at 

 right angles with each other, all elongated, the last series being 

 very slender, 1-1 1 inch long, furnished at close bracteolated 

 intervals with three or four fasciculated minute flowers on 

 very short pedicels. The habit of the plant is therefore very 

 peculiar. The flower consists of six concave ovate sepals in 

 two series, the outer being very briefly connate at base, the inner 

 equal, alternate, and free ; six fleshy petals somewhat shorter, 

 obovate, in two series, the inner plane, the outer ones alternate, 

 with their lateral margins inflected ; three monadelphous sta- 

 mens, whose filaments are united for three-quarters of their 

 length into a central column, their apices free, each bearing- 

 two separated anther-lobes, adnate by their side and back to the 

 filament, and bursting somewhat extrorsely by a longitu- 

 dinal furrow. It will be seen that Elissmrhena and Scia- 

 dutenia, both from Guiana, have leaves similar in size and shape 

 to those of Somjjhvxylon, and have also soft-wooded fistulose 

 branches, thus ofiering a general resemblance ; but the very 

 expanded and peculiar inflorescence of the latter and the struc- 

 ture of its flower remove all further analogy. There is no evi- 

 dence in the character of the plant that can indicate the tribe 

 to which the genus belongs. 



SoMPHOXYLON, Eichlcr ; — Floi'es dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, bi- 

 serialia, alterna, concava, glabra, quorum 3 exteriora ovato- 

 lanceolata, dimidio breviora, inter se basi breviter connata, 3 

 intei'iora late obovata. Petala 6, biseriata, sepalis dimidio 

 breviora, obovato-elliptica, carnosula, 3 intei'iora plana, 3 ex- 

 teriora alterna, lateribus inflexis. Stamina 3, monadelpha; 

 filamenta crassiuscula, pro majore parte in columnam cen- 

 tralem coalita; anthercs majusculge, ad dorsum et latera 

 filamenti adnatse, 2-lobBe, lobis subglobosis, dissitis, singulis 

 sulco longitudiuali subextrorsum dehiscentibus. 



Frutex Guiana Batavianm glaberrimus, ligno mollissimo sub- 

 spongioso ; folia majuscula, oblonga, irno leviter vel subcordata, 

 apice rcpente cuspidata, penninei'via, concoloria, petiolata : pa- 

 nicula ^ magna, late ramosa, bradeolata, ramis longis patentim 

 divaricatis, sursum decrescentibus, iterum bis patentim expansis, 

 ramulis tertiariis hngiusculis, gracilibus, axiliulis approximatis, 

 flores 3-4 brevissime pedicellatos gerentibus ; flores minimi, 

 glabri. 



The characters of the only species will be given in the third 

 volume of my ' Contributions/ 



Somphoxylon Wellschlcegelii, Eichl. in Mart. Fl. Bras, xxxviii. 



