Mr. J. Miers on the Tricuspidariese. 49 



4. Tricuspidaria. 



There are many points of analogy between this genus and 

 Aristotelia] but it differs in its solitary and much larger 

 flowers upon lengthened peduncles, in their being always 

 hermaphrodite, in having a tubular calyx, more fleshy 

 petals, longer stamens arranged uniserially on the summit of 

 a tall cylindrical disk or gynophore that supports the ovary, 

 in its long subulate style, its capsular fruit, and in its seeds. 

 In Aristotelia the hilum is upon the middle of the ventral 

 edge of the seed ; in Tricuspidaria it is at one extremity, the 

 other being deficient of the horny appendage. The outer tunic 

 is less fleshy, more friable, and easily separating when dry, 

 leaving the chord of the raphe upon the second integument or 

 bony shell, extending from one extremity to the other, where 

 it is lost in the large truncated chalaza. There are two spe- 

 cies, both natives of Chile, one of which I examined atten- 

 tively, many years ago, in the living state. The following 

 is an amended and more amplified generic character, founded 

 upon my own observations. 



Tricuspidaria, R. & P. — Flores hermaphroditi. Cali/x urceo- 

 lato-tubulosus, submembranaceus, margine breviter sinuato- 

 5-dentatus, demum irregulariter dirupto-partitus et deciduus. 

 Petala 5, £equalia, cuneato-oblonga, concava, imo subsac- 

 cata, intus usque ad medium carinata, apice in denticulos 3 

 acutos incisa, calyce 3-plo longiora, carnosa, imo disci in- 

 serta, aestivatione e marginibus longitudinaliter late inflexis 

 introplicato-valvata, decidua. Discus in forma gy nophori, 

 alte cylindraceus, profunde 10-sulcatus, ovarium fulciens, 

 persistens. Stamina 15, petalis sequilonga, uniserialiter 

 summo disci inserta, ovarium crebre circumstantia ; fila- 

 menta filiformia, compressa, pilosula, superne paulo divari- 

 catim curvata ; antherce his dimidio breviores, lineares, 4- 

 sulcatse, summo filamentorum geniculatim affixse, apice con- 

 niventes, collateraliter 2-loculares, loculis vertice e poris 2 

 confluentibus, brevissime 2-valvatim dehiscentes. Ovarium 

 disco supei'positum, elongatum, apice conico-subcylindricum, 

 3-4-sulcatum, 3-4-loculare : ovula in quovis loculo 12-16, 

 per paria angulo centrali horizontaliter affixa ; stylus ovario 

 gequilongus, tenuiter subulatus ; stigma obtusulum aut vix 

 uUum. Capsula ovata, 3-4-queti'a, angulis undulatis, stylo 

 acuminata, disco persistente stipitata, 3-4-locularis, ultra 

 medium loculicide patentim dehiscens, dissepimentis medio 

 valvarum aflixis,adaxin solutis, margine seminiferis, columna 

 centrali nulla. Semina in quoque loculo 4-8, biserialia, 

 obovata, subangulata, una extremitate hilo minimo notata, 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.4. Vol.ii. 4 



