Mr. J. Miers on the Tribe Colletie^e. 373 



apart ; the lower ones are bare, but towards the extremities of 

 the branches, beneath each spine, an elongated sprout or sup- 

 pressed brauchlet occurs about 3 lines long:,"which is imbricately 

 squamose, owing to the decussating stipules of the approximated 

 axils; from these, both opposite leaves and flowers issue in great 

 abundance, which thus appear fasciculated, and in this ma°nner 

 the extremities of the branches assume the aspect of dense 

 spikes, richly covered with flowers. The leaves are 3 lines long, 

 H line broad, on a slender petiole of half aline in length ; th^y 

 are somewhat fleshy, serrated on the edges, deeply retuse, and 

 mucronate at the apex ; the peduncle is above a hne long ; the 

 calyx, including the short erect segments, is 2 lines long' and 

 11 line in diameter, and is of a reddish hue; the stamens are 

 almost sessile in the sinus of the segments, and they, as well 

 as the small scale-like petals, are only half the length of the 

 segments *. 



Var, p, exilis : glaberrima, ramulis gracillime vimineis, spinosis, 



spinis remotioribus, elongatis, tenuiter acuformibus, et inter- 



dum spinulosis : floribus in axillis subsolitariis. — Buenos 



Ayres.— y. s. in herb. Mus. Paris ; in herb. Jussieu (Commer- 



son); in herb. Soc. Linn. Loncl. (a Jussieu missa). 



This is of an extremely slender growth, and I consider it to 



be merely a variety of the above species ; its leaves are deeply 



serrated, and its flowers somewhat smaller : the internodes are 



6 to 8 lines apart, the needle-like spines are 9 to 12 hues lono-, 



and the spinelets 3 or 4 lines ; the opposite leaves are 4 lines 



long, including the short petiole, and 1 line broad ; the flowers, 



like those in Tweedie's specimen, are of a reddish colour ; the 



peduncle is 2 lines long ; the calyx, including its four segments, is 



2 lines long, and, in like manner, the almost sessile erect anthers 



and scale-like petals are barely half the length of the short tri- 



angular segments f. 



3. Discaria hnrjispina. Colletia longispina, Hook. Am. Bot. 

 Misc. '\\\. 173;— fruticosa, glaberrima, fere aphylla, ramis 

 ramulisque \argatis, spinosis, spinis oppositis, reraotis, longis- 

 simis, sfepe arcuatis, patentibus, srepius nudis, calloso-pun- 

 gentibus :^ ramulis novcllis sub spinis enatis, axillis decus- 

 satis foliiferis et floriferis ; foliis oppositis, parvulis, elonf»-ato- 

 elhpticis, acutis, integerrimis, rarius apice denticulatis, imo 

 gradatira cuneatis, nitentibus, viridibus, carnosulis, nervis 

 immersis; stipulis minutis, rubris, ovatis, apice acute 2-den- 

 tatis, longe albido-ciliatis, linea transversali sub spinis inter se 



* A representation of this species will be given in Plate 38 b of the 

 * Contributions.' 

 t This variety will be represented in Plate 38 c of the same work. 



