Mr. J. Miers on the Tricuspidariez, 49 
4, TRICUSPIDARIA. 
There are many points of analogy between this genus and 
Aristotelia; but it differs in its solitary and much larger 
flowers upon lengthened peduncles, in their being always 
hermaphrodite, in having a tubular calyx, more fleshy 
petals, longer stamens arranged uniserially on the summit of 
a tall cylindrical disk or gynophore that supports the ovary, 
in its long subulate style, its capsular fruit, and in its seeds. 
In Aristotelia the hilum is upon the middle of the ventral 
edge of the seed; in 7ricuspidaria it is at one extremity, the 
other being deficient of the horny appendage. The outer tunic 
is less fleshy, more friable, and easily separating when dry, 
leaving the chord of the raphe upon the second integument or 
bony shell, extending from one extremity to the other, where 
it is lost in the large truncated chalaza. There are two spe- 
cies, both natives of Chile, one of which I examined atten- 
tively, many years ago, in the living state. The following 
is an amended and more amplified generic character, founded 
upon my own observations. 
TRiIcusPIDARIA, R. & P.—Flores hermaphroditi. Calyx urceo- 
lato-tubulosus, submembranaceus, margine breviter sinuato- 
5-dentatus, demum irregulariter dirupto-partitus et deciduus. 
Petala 5, xqualia, cuneato-oblonga, concava, imo subsac- 
cata, intus usque ad medium carinata, apice in denticulos 3 
acutos incisa, calyce 3-plo longiora, carnosa, imo disci in- 
serta, estivatione e marginibus longitudinaliter late inflexis 
introplicato-valvata, decidua. Discus in forma gynophori, 
alte cylindraceus, profunde 10-sulcatus, ovarium fulciens, 
persistens. Stamina 15, petalis equilonga, uniserialiter 
summo disci inserta, ovarium crebre circumstantia; fila- 
menta filiformia, compressa, pilosula, superne paulo divari- 
catim curvata; anthere his dimidio breviores, lineares, 4- 
sulcate, summo filamentorum geniculatim affixe, apice con- 
niventes, collateraliter 2-loculares, loculis vertice e poris 2 
confluentibus, brevissime 2-valvatim dehiscentes. Ovartum 
disco superpositum, elongatum, apice conico-subeylindricum, 
3—4-suleatum, 3—4-loculare: ovu/a in quovis loculo 12-16, 
per paria angulo centrali horizontaliter affixa; stylus ovario 
equilongus, tenuiter subulatus ; st¢gma obtusulum aut vix 
ullum. Capsula ovata, 3-4-quetra, angulis undulatis, stylo 
acuminata, disco persistente stipitata, 3—4-locularis, ultra 
medium loculicide patentim dehiscens, dissepimentis medio 
valvarum affixis,adaxin solutis, margine seminiferis, columna 
centrali nulla. Semina in quoque loculo 4-8, biserialia, 
obovata, subangulata, una extremitate Azlo minimo notata, 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. ii. 4 
