293 Linneean Society. 



very slender ramifications, which are in every axil dicliotomously 

 divided, the solitary involucre on a lengthened capillary pedicel 

 springing from the middle of each bifurcation, and by the proportion 

 of its floral parts. The author gives his reasons for regarding the 

 floral envelopes in Polygonece as constituting a calyx and corolla, 

 which, in all described Eriogoneee, have a ternary arrangement with 

 9 stamina and 3 styles ; but the present genus diff'ers in the quater- 

 nary disposition of the envelopes, accompanied by 8 stamina and 

 4 styles. He had at first regarded it as entirely undescribed, the 

 characters of Oxytheca, as given by Mr. Nuttall in the ' Journal of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' 2nd series, vol. i. 

 p. 169, deviating widely from those observed by himself on the Chi- 

 lean plant ; but the examination of a specimen of Oxytheca from Mr. 

 Nuttall himself, in Sir W. J. Hooker's Herbarium, has convinced 

 him that, notwithstanding these ap^iarent discrepancies, his plant is 

 referable to the same genus, the characters of which he is compelled 

 to modify as follows : — 



Oxytheca, Nutt. 



Char. Gen. Involucrum 3-5-florum, tubulosum, subtetragomun, ad me- 

 ditun 4-5-partitiim ; laciniis subaequalibus, acutis, loiigissiine aristatis, 

 Flores bermaplu'oditi cum masculis interdum interinixti, pedicellati, 

 bracteati, subexserti, deiuum cemini. iVjnff/a .3— 4, petaloidea, aequalia, 

 oblonga, unguiculata, valde inibricata. Petala 8-4, scpalis altcrna ct 

 subsimiba, tenuiova, glabra, imbricata, et cum illis pei'sisfentia. Sta- 

 mina 6—8, e summo gynopboio orta, inclusa, .'j— 4 alterna breviora 

 sepalis opposita ; filameiitu filiformia, apice iuflexa ; unthercB rotuii- 

 datsB, cordatse, dovsifixse. Ovarium ovatum, 3— 4-g(jnum, stipitatum, 

 petaUs tertio brevius, l-loculare; ooulo basilari, ereclo. Sfi/li 3-1, 

 breves, erecti, demum divaricati ; stigmata capitata. Achceniuin 1-sper- 

 mum, ovale, 3-4-costatum, sepalis petalisque emarcidis arete tectum. 

 Semen loculum implens ; testa niembranacea. Embryo spiralis, anti- 

 tropus, intra albumen farinaceum inclusus ; cotyledonibus cocbleato- 

 rotundis, foliaceis, accumbentibus ; radiculd illis triplo longiore, tereti- 

 subulata, hemicyclic^, apice recto verticem spectaiite. — Herbre svffrit- 

 ticulosce Califoriiiccp et Chilenses, Andicolce, sesquijialmares, valde ra- 

 mosce ; ramis gracilibiis, in qudque axilla 2—Z-chotome divisis ; foliis 

 radicalibus congestis, linearisubulatis, caulinis bracteiformibiis, axilla- 

 ribns, ternis, basi connatis, hinc breviter iwyiiiaiitibus ; involucro loiige 

 pedunculato e qudque dicliotomid orto ; floribus minntis, sigillatim pree- 

 cocioribus ; pedicellis basi bractea lineari, aristatd, breviore dotiatis. 



Oxytheca spiculata, dicbotome ramosa, ranmlis gracilibus divaricatis 

 glanduloso-pilosis, foliis radicalibus congestis spathulato-liuearibus 

 utrinque pilis eglandulosis asperis, pedunculo axillari capillaceo, invo- 

 lucri deutibus 4 arista acuformi lougissima armatis, floribus 4 meris, 

 staniinibus 8, petalis rubcntibus apice patentibus. 



Hab. in Andium Chilensium desceusu Orientali, inter Mendoza et Acon- 

 cagua, circa rivulum S'*^ Marise, altitudine 8000 ped. 



The other genus described by Mr. Miers is a nearly aphyllous 

 shrub, with straight, erect, virgate branches, terminating in spines, 

 and belongs to the family of Bigtioniacece, from some of the usual 

 characters of which family it oft^ers, however, a striking deviation, 

 the ovarium being simjjly bilocular, with a few ovules suspended on 



