ae SS le el 
Mr. J. Miers on the Tribe Colletiex. 13 
Scypharia Guayaquilensis, only that in the former case the lateral 
teeth are not developed : the floriferous branch, as in the Colle- 
tie, rises from between that process and the spine, and is quite 
analogous to the racemose twig of the species last mentioned ; 
it has a similar 4-angled stem, with salient angles, and the 
flowers in both cases are nearly sessile, and placed at some di- 
stance in decussate pairs. In this specimen of “ Colletia tetra- 
gona,” although the fruit has fallen away, the persistent calyx is 
of a somewhat campanulate form, with five short rounded lobes, 
and within, at its base, is the vestige of an apparently small 
disk, with a free border, showing in the middle the scar where 
the fruit was attached. There is another consideration: in 
Volkameria spinosa, and other species of that genus, the inflo- 
rescence is a cyme, 3-chotomously branched, the flowers being 
borne upon long slender pedicels, bracteated at their base; but 
in this plant the flowers are arranged in almost sessile pairs 
upon a straight rachis. These circumstances induce me to 
retain the plant among the Colletiez, where Brongniart first 
placed it, and to arrange it provisionally in Scypharia, with 
which it offers so many points of analogy, until a better know- 
ledge can be obtained concerning it. I may also add that its 
spines exactly conform to those of the Colletiee, having the same 
corneous pungent apex*. 
Observations.—The Rhamnus microphyllus, H.B.K. tab. 616, 
from Mexico, might be thought to belong to Scypharia, on ac- 
count of its 2-lobed petals and 2-celled ovary; but its habit is 
quite incompatible. Its branches are spineless, decumbent, and 
alternate ; its leaves are also alternate. Its relation is probably 
with Microrhamnus ericifolia, A. Gray (Pl. Wright. p. 34), to 
which perhaps Colletia disperma, DC., is allied, all being indi- 
genous to Mexico. 
A new genus has lately been proposed in the ‘ Linnzea’ (xxvii. 
618), by Dr. Philippi, under the name of Sciadophila, founded 
upon the Colletia Maytenoides of Dr. Grisebach, a plant from 
one of the southern provinces of Chile (Valdivia). I have care- 
fully examined this plant, and find that in its general habit and 
in its floral structure it differs in no respect from the genus 
Condalia of Cavanilles. Dr. Philippi places his genus among 
the Colletiee ; but it evidently belongs to the Rhamnee (Frangu- 
linea, Reiss.): the segments of the calyx are divided to the 
margin of the disk, and are deciduous, as in Condalia, it has 
also no petals; the stamens are of the same form, and are simi- 
larly situated; in the structure of its ovary, in its style and 
* This plant will be figured in Plate 42 p of the same work. 
