ON THE ASCLUPIADEyE. 229 



in the Banksian collection. Apocynum cordatum and lan- 

 ceolatum, Thunb. prod., probably likewise belong to the 

 genus ; and I have modified the character, to admit a very 

 remarkable plant, found by Mr. Masson in South Africa, 

 the stem of which is shrubby with spinescent branches, the 

 leaves extremely minute, opposite, distant, and heartshaped ; 

 the corolla rather urceolate than bellshaped ; the orifice of 

 the tube furnished with deflected hairs ; the masses of 

 pollen are fixed by their attenuated apices ; the stigma is 

 blunt ; the folliculi nearly cylindrical and smooth, with seeds 

 of the usual structure. The whole genus is evidently [55 

 very near akin to Microloma, and differs chiefly in the want 

 of squamae within the tube. They might, therefore, be 

 united ; but this would lead to the junction also of Meta- 

 stelma, a native of the West India Islands, which I am 

 unwilling to join with these South African plants. 



II. 



Massce pollinis 20, laeves, quaternatim (duabus antheris 

 pertinentes), affixse apici corpusculorum exsulcorum stig- 

 matis. 



Mlamenta connata, extus appendiculata. 



SECAMONE. [Periplocse sp. Linn. 



Char. Corolla rotata. 



Corona staminea 5phylla. 



Massce pollinis erectse quaternatim afflxae apici corpusculi 

 subsimilis, exsulci stigmatis. 



Stigma apice coarctato. 



Folliculi 



Habitus. Frutices erecti v. volubiles, glabri. Folia 

 opposita. Cymce dichotomae, interpetiolares. Flores minuti. 



Patria. Africa, India Orientalis, et Nova Hollandia 

 tropica. 



Obs. Erom the extreme minuteness of the parts, no genus 



