188 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 



I published my first notes on the Menispermaceay in 1851, I 

 knew nothing of Chondodendron beyond the mere details of the 

 male flower given in the ' Prodromus ^ of Ruiz and Pavon : two 

 years afterwards I first saw the typical ^ plant ; and it was only 

 lately that I ascertained with certainty the structure of the fe- 

 male flower and fruit, as derived from Spruce's plant from 

 Tarapota, These showed that my genus Botryopsis differs in 

 no respect, except in the relative size of its petals, and con- 

 vinced me that it should now merge into Chondodendron. Mr. 

 Bentham, in his "Notes on Menispermacese '^ (Journ.Linn. Soc. 

 V. 2nd Suppl. p. 47), misled by Poppig, also misapprehended the 

 nature of the genus, and, influenced by his desire to abridge 

 species, even went so far as to state his conviction that the 

 Chondodendron convolvulaceum, Popp., is specifically identical, 

 not only with Chondodendron tomentosum, R. & P., but also with 

 several distinct Brazilian species of Odontocarya. In my descrip- 

 tion of the latter genus [huj, op, 3 ser. xiv. 99) I have animad- 

 verted upon these misconceptions. 



Dr. Eichler, in his monograph of the Brazilian Menisperma' 

 cea, in Martius's ' Flora Brasiliensis,' adopts the mistaken views 

 of Mr. Bentham, and entangles with Chondodendron tomentosum, 

 R.&P.,all the species of Odontocaryawhichlhave described, amal- 

 gamating all into a single species : this confusion is still further 

 increased by his description of two species under Botjyopsis, 

 into the first of which he fuses most of the species of Chondo- 

 dendron enumerated below, his second species being confined to 

 Spruce's plant from Tarapota. The copious analyses which he 

 has figured, in plate 36, for Chondodendron in reality represent 

 the structure of Odontocarya, a genus belonging to a very dif- 

 ferent tribe of the family ; while those given in plate 48 as 

 being figurative of Botryopsis illustrate the characters of Chori' 

 dodendron. 



Under Botryopsis [l. c. p. 199), Dr. Eichler describes ChondO' 

 dendron as being furnished with the unusual number of twelve 

 petals, in which respect he is plainly again in error ; for, con- 

 trary to all analogy, he has considered the six innermost 

 sepals to be petals, forgetting that they are the largest of the 

 whole series, which are imbricated around them in gradually 

 decreasing whorls, and that, like all the rest, they are pubescent 

 externally ; while the six true petals are decidedly shorter and 

 glabrous; and, indeed, in Spruce's plant (which he correctly 

 figures) they are reduced almost to the size of hypogynous scales, 

 one-sixth the length of those sepals which he incorrectly regards 

 as petals. The justness of these observations may be seen by 

 reference to the analyses given, in plate 48, of his Botryopsis 

 platyphylla and B. Spruceana. It is therefore evident that 



