Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 325 



centre, somewhat longer than the petals, with subglobose four- 

 lobed anthers, dorsaliy attached to the apex of the terete fila- 

 menta, bursting introrsely by transverse sutures. I have not 

 seen the $ flowers or the fruit, and on these points, in the fol- 

 lowing diagnosis, I have borrowed the details from Mr. Bentham. 



MiCROCLisiA, Bentham. — Flares dioici. Masc. Sepala 15, im- 

 bricatim et ternatim disposita, quorum 12 minima, triangu- 

 laria, bracteiformia, extus gradatim paululo minora, 3 inte- 

 riora reliquis 4-6-plo longiora, lanceolato-oblonga, subacuta, 

 sestivatione subvalvata, cum marginibus involutis, apice de- 

 mum patentim reflexo. Petala 6, biseriata, sepalis dimidio 

 breviora, imo cuneato-unguiculata, limbo suborbiculato, mar- 

 ginibus subcrenatis et subinvolutis, glandulis 2 carnosulis 

 irregularibus notata, subpellucido- punctata, glabra. Stamina 

 3, centralia, libera, petalis paulo longiora; filamenta teretia, 

 incurvatim erecta; antherce subglobosse, sub-4-lob8e, 2-locu- 

 lares, dorso affixse, introrsse, utrinque transversim et 2-valvatim 

 dehiscentes. — Fl. Foem. ignoti. Drupa 3, reniformi-globosse, 

 stylo persistente basin versus notatse; putamen conforme, 1- 

 loculare; condylus orrinino internus, umboniformis, parvus, 

 sinui ventrali adversus. Semen loculum implens, condylo af- 

 flxum, exalbuminosum : embryo cotyledonibus magnis, crassis, 

 subcurvatis, fere conferruminatis, radicula minima, vix di- 

 stincta. 



Frutex Australasia orientalis, scandens : ramuli pubescentes ; 

 folia oblonga, subcoriacea, e basi 3-nervia, reticulata, subius 

 pubescentia, petiolata : race mi J" axillares. 



The only species yet known will be described in the third 

 volume of my ' Contributions to Botany :' — 



Microclisia Australis, Benth. Nov. Gen. i. 436 ; — Pleogyne Aus- 

 tralis, Benth. FL Austral, i. 59. — In Australia orientali : 

 V. s. in herb. Hook. ^ , Moreton Bay and Fitzroy Range 

 (F. Miiller), Moreton Bay (Oldham). 



48. SCIADOTENIA. 



This veiy interesting genus was proposed by me in 1851, the 

 typical species being a Cayenne plant, remarkable for the pecu- 

 liar development of its fruit. The plant has much the habit of 

 Elissarrhena or Anelasma, having large polished leaves with five 

 elongated nerves springing from the base, which form only a 

 small angle with the midrib and are therefore somewhat parallel, 

 all arcuately anastomosing with two superior pairs of shorter 

 lateral nerves, and all connected by many straight transversely 



